Editorial To Vima: A matter of collective and individual responsibility

The enemy dubbed coronavirus is extremely powerful as is evidenced by its rapid spread and its impact, particularly on the elderly.

The experience to date of healthcare professionals – and especially Italian doctors who are still dealing with a major human catastrophe – indicates that they are confronted by an invisible but ruthless enemy and a strong arsenal of measures is needed to grapple with it.

It is by now clear that one needs forces far greater than Newtonian physics to manage the pandemic effectively, as the Greek-American Yale Professor of Social and Natural Science Nicholas Christakis quipped recently.

Huge forces were marshaled by the Chinese in the Hubei Province capital of Yuhan, by the South Koreans in Seoul, and quite belatedly by the Italians in Milan.

There is no longer any doubt that in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus one needs strict, comprehensive, and religiously enforced restrictive measures that will allow only the absolutely necessary movement of citizens.

Undoubtedly, the spread of the coronavirus in Greece is on the rise.

By all appearances the next two or three weeks will be a very rough patch for citizens.

All the data now indicate that the virus is starting to spread to the community and cases are often not detectable.

The aim now is to check and to the extent possible to reverse this trend.

That means that if we truly want to protect public health it is necessary to adhere to very strict measures with no reservations.

There is no other way.

Very strict restrictive measures are around the corner and we must reconcile ourselves with these new realities.
It is now a vital issue of personal and collective responsibility.