Editorial Ta Nea: Maintaining COVID-19 alertness

The new resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic confirms not only that the virus is still with us, but also that it remains a danger to public health and social cohesion.

The loosening of public health measures and the decline in the number of intubated patients and deaths should not in any way lead us to believe that we have transcended the danger and that there is a full return to normalcy.

In fact, the opposite is true.

The virus remains with us, and now more than ever there is an urgent need to assume personal responsibility and protect ourselves.

We have the necessary experience, as we have been living with the pandemic for over two years, and almost every home has someone who has been infected.

According to the scientific community, new variants are more transmissible, and that is yet another reason to take precautionary measures.

We all know that it does not take much for the number of cases to spin out of control and to lead us all, and the National Health System, to a precarious situation.

An even worse scenario would be to have a wave that peaks during the summer, endangering workers and visitors.

Avoiding crowding, observing personal hygiene and taking precautionary measures, and having those in vulnerable groups get a fourth jab of the vaccine are just some of the weapons in our arsenal that enable us to wage this perpetual battle.

Trust in science and accumulated experience render it impermissible to allow a surge and peak in infections.

All these things do not require a paternalistic state, but rather they mandate a consciously responsible stance.