The Response to the Pandemic Was More Harmful Than the Pandemic Itself

Today, Croatia has recorded many more new COVID-19 cases than yesterday. So many people have been hospitalized, and so many patients are on ventilators. The number of hospitalized patients is higher compared to last week. And this has been the case for a long year and a half. More precisely, 19 months. The dead are being counted, the sick are being counted, the total cost of testing, hospital treatment for patients with corona is being counted, and the billions that the Government has spent on various measures to maintain the economy that it shut down due to the pandemic are being counted. Tourists are also being counted, and very diligently at that. As long as they come, as long as they spend, there will be money to continue the measures in the fall. As soon as they leave, it will again be only COVID-19 and nothing but COVID-19. The fourth or fifth wave, who is still counting? We will close the economy as much as the rich treasury filled by tourists allows and continue to sweep problems under the rug. Already seen.

However, no matter how much we pretend that there are no problems, because we either do not see them or do not want to see them, they will eventually escalate, and then someone wise will ask: how is that?

How is it that so many small and medium-sized entrepreneurs have closed? How is it that so many people are unemployed and on the brink of existence? How is it that so many people cannot repay loans and that citizens’ indebtedness is rising? How is it that the number of patients with various tumors is increasing? How is it that so many adults and children are overweight, why are they not engaging in sports? How is it that the number of cardiovascular diseases has exploded? How is it that the number of those with mental disorders is rising? How is it that we have disrupted supply chains? And this is just the tip of the iceberg that will begin to melt once Croatia, for who knows how many times, defeats corona. And then the question will have to be raised about the enormous billions we have spent to cope with the pandemic, while at the same time we have caused immeasurable damage to society as a whole. And which, quite predictably, we will not know how to remedy.

Increased Indebtedness

The truth is, Gordan Lauc, a member of the Government’s Scientific Council and one of those promoting so-called pandemic realism, agrees. He claims that the damage we will soon have to face is much greater than we think, but this damage was not caused by the virus, but by our response to the pandemic.

– In fear of one virus, we limited access to the healthcare system, and today we already see increased mortality from cardiovascular diseases and tumors, but we expect the real increase only in the years to come. Most people gained weight during the pandemic, which will further impair their health. Many lived in fear, which is also very bad for health. Various restrictions and work bans have brought entire sectors of the economy to the brink of collapse. Fortunately, Croatia was relatively moderate in imposing bans, so it seems that our economy is recovering quite well and that the cost of the pandemic will be compensated relatively quickly, but we must not forget that those billions we spent on our response to the pandemic could have been invested much more wisely – says Lauc.

What other experts say about the hidden cost of the pandemic and our response to it, and what the statistics say, read in the printed or digital edition of the Lider weekly.

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