Maybe we should stop fighting the pandemic

 

 An article by Nikos Marantzidis, a professor of political science at the Macedonian University, for the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

I was thinking just the other day that if I were the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and criticized by the opposition for my country's performance in the coronavirus administration, I might have said, 'What's your problem? If we were like Greece, we would have twice as many deaths. " You could say that no Dutch prime minister, however, would be willing to compare his country's public policy with ours, but that is not the point.

 The fact is that with almost twice the population of Greece, the Netherlands has about the same number of deaths, making it one of the most successful examples of pandemic management in Europe. It is also the most populous country in Europe, with 17 million people living in an area almost as large as the Peloponnese, and has the highest proportion of people living in cities that, as we all know, are most affected by the virus. . If we add the fact that the country is a major transport hub and that its multicultural and youth population is determined by an independent culture that makes it harder to impose restrictions such as lockdown, it is a little surprising that it has done so well.

 However, it is obvious that Greece is not doing well with the pandemic, as in other areas. Although a year ago we bragged about how we are doing better than most rich European countries, this is no longer the case. In fact, only a few months ago, the government boasted that Greece had half of the coronavirus deaths recorded in Portugal, for example; today we are in the unfortunate situation of having more. And as you read these lines, we may have even surpassed France in the number of deaths per million inhabitants. Yes, France, the number one tourist destination in the world, so relentlessly hit by the first wave of the pandemic. If we continue at the current pace, we will soon be ahead of Spain in the number of deaths per million people.

Does that mean we failed? No, because we are still doing better than most of the former Eastern bloc countries. The figures for the Czech Republic, Hungary and some of the Balkan countries are simply depressing. Hungary, for example, has twice the mortality rate of us.

So the cup is half empty or half full; you choose. The government has nothing to blame for, but there is also no reason to say that it is doing well. The truth is somewhere in the middle. We are neither the best nor the worst.

 If there is one thing that is often missing in this country, it is sober thinking - not just about the pandemic, but the whole. Calm critical approach instead of oversimplification. This is the kind of public discourse we lack.

 So what went wrong? Is the relatively low vaccination the reason for such a big problem? If that was the case, then why did Germany cope so well with such a vaccination rate? Or is our public health system very sick? I have personal experience on this front; after losing my mother during the pandemic, I witnessed some tragic scenes at one of Thessaloniki's central hospitals. I have not dealt with this because I understand how difficult the situation is, but I will also not tolerate someone lying to me and telling me that the public health system is in great shape.

 Are there other ongoing issues that we need to worry about? For example, is the general health of the Germans better than that of the Greeks? Besides, why does Greece rank so low in terms of citizens' trust in its institutions, and why are so many people unconvinced of the claims of the government and scientists? How can the trust of the citizens be won?

 We need the truth and a proper understanding of our real situation. Our main problem, as I so often say, is that every issue is treated as an object of political rivalry. Our governments and our opposition parties approach every problem in exactly the same way: how many votes will I get and how many will I lose?