Editorial: Public health threat

At the beginning of the economic crisis conspiracy theorists faced no counter-arguments because no one took them seriously enough to answer.

That indifference fueled the conspiracy theories and we paid dearly for it. When the coronavirus first appeared in Greece the theorists got to work but this time the public was better prepared to confront them.

The immediate appearance of epidemiologists, the earnest manner in which they explained the lockdown last spring and the fear of death led to public health measures being religiously implemented by everyone.

However the threat of conspiracy theories never left. The photo of a woman protester stomping maniacally on surgical masks to the sound of shouted slogans against masks in schools is ridiculous but above all it is dangerous.

Over the past years we learned that it takes just one ridiculous individual or conspiracy theorist at the wrong time in the wrong place to do damage.

In the middle of a pandemic we are not simply discussing a society that has lost its orientation or a state that will confront the violence and racism of the far right. We are not talking about bogus loans, non-existent gold reserves, Elohim and Nephilim, and World Bank intrigue.

This time human lives are at stake and it is in human life that we shall pay for the folly of Sunday’s anti-mask and coronavirus deniers’ protest in Syntagma Square.

Covid-19 is still with us. Not only has the danger not dissipated but it has become a part of our daily routine.

Every time a shoe stomps on a mask the threat becomes greater