With the pandemic and all, the current state of affairs is not easy to manage. True, we are at the stage where the unrolling of the vaccination programme is starting to pick up. However, there are new variants that seem to be even more contagious making their way into our communities, people are sliding in a perpetual state of ‘pandemic fatigue’. We are starting to feel the economic impact and this is compounded with a general sense of uncertainty that one can sense across the country.   

It is all that people are speaking about, whether they are at the grocers or at their workplace, with friends or family. Not only, but the latest measures which were a long time coming have left us almost completely bare of any social activities. 

We are at a very critical moment, one year down the line, since the Covid-19 phenomenon struck the world like a meteorite at full speed. We are quickly closing in on 400 deaths, almost averaging one a day since this pandemic hit our Islands. Our ITU is full to the brim and we’ve had 25,000 cases out of which 3,500 are currently active ones. This pandemic is no joke. The impact it is having on people’s wellbeing, people’s lifestyle and our economy is devastating. The expected and potential collateral damage on our quality of life will see our communities reeling.    

Many are asking; 

How much of this was avoidable? 

How much of this is the fault of the mixed messages we received from politicians? 

How much of this is the fault of our health authorities? 

How much of this is down to the unfitting behavior of people who think that a one-time sort of street party after your home town wins a football game, a boat trip or a tombola party, are just fine? 

God forbid that at this point in time Prof. Charmaine Gauci decides to hang up her boots or is made to do so. But the lewdness is that instead of trying to find answers to these questions and trying to come up with proper effective solutions, we instead subject a young journalist, who was genuinely seeking answers, to a head-on attack.

In my opinion she was asking a legitimate question to those who are leading the resistance in this pandemic, rightfully probing whether they should step down because the numbers are not in their favour. And anyway, what’s wrong with asking this question? Is a public figure now not liable to public scrutiny? The edginess of the Government, the weak response of the Opposition and the general tension that is surrounding the health system on this matter are evidence that we are in an unwarranted situation.  

This is the second fully-fledged attack we had on a journalist because they ask questions. Do you remember the assault Glen Falzon from PBS had to endure because, according to the Opposition, he was not being fair? As if asking questions is fair! The Leader of the Opposition had to deal with a mini-meltdown similar to the one the Prime Minister experienced because they were being asked questions that were making them bumpy. 

Journalists are effective when they draw on themselves this discomfort and when they ask the scratchy questions that seek to get public officials away from their comfort zone.  

Is there anything wrong in this? 

We are such a hidebound society, afraid to be put on the spot and instead get ourselves censorious.  Back to Nicole Meilak. Some had the audacity to accuse the journalist that she is implying that Prof. Charmaine Gauci should resign. What if the journalist was inferring precisely that? Prof. Gauci has received all the accolades this country had at its disposal when things were working out well. When it was clear that she was leading the battle with grit and effectiveness we were all clappy and happy, but is it the case now?  

I know this is a terrible analogy that will probably come to haunt me for the rest of my life, but look at Southampton FC!  At the beginning of the season we were leading the table, winning game after game. Then out of the blue we got knocked off our feet by the Reds and there you go, we got ourselves a 9-0 drubbing. Wasn’t this the same coach, same players and the same technical staff that were leading the team to one glorious result after another?  You could go on and say that we had some key players missing or the pitch we were playing on was of a bad quality or that the other team was being fed by lady luck. True, it could have been all of that, but it could also be the case that the coach started getting it wrong, no?  Being effective for the previous 13 games was not good enough from where I stand and notwithstanding there is some good football being played we are still not at our best. This is exactly the same with our Covid-19 situation. The strategy and the game plan have gone AWOL.  

Prof. Gauci has weathered the storms, has seen through the organization of the services needed to respond to the pandemic, but somehow things are not right anymore. There seems to be a lack of direction, Unions are increasingly edgy and front-line health workers are at breaking point. Not only, it feels that the recent measures, announced during a press conference by a very shielding Prime Minister, were the result of a Government buckling under the pressure.  

What we are living is a very delicate period. It is starting to feel as if we are about to reach our own Kármán line and it all risks spinning out of control. The country is warping under the pressure. Not only, but PTSD seems to be creeping into the population and the heightened pressure on our front-liners, ranging from those in the medical field to our social workers, youth workers, therapists, psychologists and all the rest. This has been a hell of a year. Will this situation leave us bruised?  How will we return to normality, if ever and what are the changes we envisage?  

We are at a loss. We are tired, unsure of what is going to happen, and we have a political class that don’t goad comfort. Add to this the ingenuousness created with the pantomime of ‘ghandi messaggi fuq il-WhatsApp li hemm min ried jaqbez il-queue ghall-injection’, with Parliament turning into the studio of Jerry Springer’s ‘I shout more than you’ contest.  I appeal to all the Parliamentarians, ‘Get your act together. Act your role. Stop acting mindlessly.’    

So the questions need to be asked and I am hopeful that, finally, we have a new breed of journalists coming up who are daring enough to keep asking.  Kudos to them.