The cases of COVID-19 in Moldova will not decrease in number if a well-thought-out communication plan is not worked out and if a trustworthy relationship is not built between the population and the authorities, public health expert Ala Tokarchuk stated in a public debate entitled “Why doesn’t COVID-19 recede? Who should do and what should be done?” that was staged by IPN News Agency.
“When this crisis came, we saw a big elephant and wanted to eat it according to instructions written abroad. If we look at the list of actions, we can say that everything is ideal and all the necessary steps were taken. The lack of confidence is probably the most sensitive issue. The people do not believe that this is a very deep crisis. It is for the first time that we face such a crisis. They failed to build confidence between what the authorities say and what the people do. The population was divided into two. One half believed the authorities and did what they said. The second half said: you are fools, you should not do this. This is a fake. They make us stay home so that we die of starvation,” stated Ala Tokarchuk.
The expert noted that the virus is on one side of the barricades and the people, the politicians, the authorities and the community are on the other side of the barricades. “If we all, the rich and the poor, do not combine forces against this virus, it will win and we will hurry to find solutions how to increase the budget, how to help the people not to die of hunger. We failed to build confidence”.
Ala Tokarchuk noted the massive testing of people is only a technical moment and the real solution for containing the pandemic resides in the restoration of confidence as the people should understand that this virus exists and affects them directly at a number of dimensions.
“A dimension which we should consider is what we must do in the medium and long runs. In the short run, we closed the markets and then opened them. In the short run, we are treating patients. Yes, we still have some resources and use them. But what will we do in the medium and long terms. If we continue to ignore the existence of the virus, we will spend more money and will have more patients. These people will be unable to work. We will not produce anything and will not have solutions for tomorrow. Confidence is the foundation. We must understand that we have a big problem and, if we admit to its existence, we can cut this elephant into prices and eat it by pieces,” stated the publish health expert.
The debate “Why doesn’t COVID-19 recede? Who should do and what should be done?” was the 139th installment of the series of debates “Developing political culture through public debates” that are supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
