As we sit patiently and watch the update provided to us by Prof. Charmaine Gauci, the Superintendent of Public Health, we are dying to hear her say that it’s all over and; we can party and eat and have fun, and meet and love and hug and kiss, and go to our favorite restaurants and wine bars, and watch football and fight over politics as we share our food around a BBQ, and drink and exchange laughs and talk in each other’s ears and skip queues and go to concerts and have a chat in the village Pjazza or with the woman or man behind the grocery and butcher counter…
So when I see people gather in public places and spaces with an indifference that is criminal, at least from where I stand, I get angry at them probably more than I do at this bloody virus.
It’s probable that these people thought that they would have the beach for themselves …
It’s probable that these people got confused with what ‘staying in’ means – for them, ‘going out for some exercise’ seems to have meant that they can lay with their backs on the sand and exercise their eyeballs…
It’s probable that these people do not work in factories where workers need to spend whole shifts huddled up close to other laborers because we are not on full lock-down and they cannot work from home (double whammy) and if they do not ‘produce’ they will be sacked because owners don’t get their dues…
It’s probable that these people are not migrants travelling the desert, through dangerous countries and over the unforgiving sea knowing well-enough that if, only if, they get rescued they will be placed in quarantine packed in closed centers - not knowing how they are going to tell their families back home that they arrived in a safe country which is ready to host them ….
It’s probable that these people are not prison officials who are locked in with inmates, some of whom are very dangerous, to try and reduce the chances of the prisoners getting infected….
It’s probable that they are not prisoners confined in a prison cell, possibly sharing, and at the same time are unable to receive any visits from members of their families…
It’s probable that the members of their families do not work in the media front-line trying to bring in as much information as possible, at times going into the most potentially infected places…
It’s probable that these people are not lecturers or educators, administrators or research support officers who are making incredible sacrifices to try and keep the education programmes going with as little distractions and postponements as possible…
It’s probable that these people are not social workers, youth workers or psychologists who are still working on the front-line with a host of other professions from the health care field…
It’s probable that these people have not been brought up in blended families whereby this whole mayhem is depriving them from their loved ones…
It’s probable that these people are not locked up with an abusive partner whom they cannot get away from, now more than ever…
It’s probable that these people are not caught up in a lock down because they work in an old people’s home for two or three weeks at a go without access to their families…
It’s probable that that these people do not have members of their families who are old and frail and live in their homes with immense fear that something will happen to them…
It’s probable that these people did not get a pay cut or are at risk of losing out on their job…
It’s probable that these people do not have family members who are isolated in another country because they were starting to get treatment abroad…
It’s probable that these people don’t give a damn about police officers, AFM members, and CPD staff who are having to monitor and restrain people who breach mandatory quarantine, and this to safeguard our own health…
It’s probable that these people are not voluntary members of the Red Cross who have been caught up in never ending shifts to support people in Open Centers, deprived of their families and have to share quarantine with the rest of the residents at Hal-Far…
It’s probable that these people do not have anyone who is sick with Covid-19…
It’s probable that these people have not lost anyone to Covid-19…
It’s probable that they know no one who had a company with limited resources but is still trying to keep the employees on their books even with the restrictions that already exist…
It’s probable that they are not related to anyone who is being tasked with delivering goods and offering a service with an added risk that this brings with it…
In the meantime, you went to get your dose of Vitamin D…how thoughtful of you!