Doctors fear pandemic fatigue in Christmas could turn deadly

Family doctors are worried that the Christmas festivities and the traditional bash on New Year’s Eve could become red-letter days for the transmission of COVID-19.

There will be a some “pandemic fatigue” towards the end of the year as people will be looking for some extra cheer, and possibly partying, drinking and excess to crown off the dismal year.

“I would still keep bars closed, and restaurants should be checked beforehand. As is already done in some restaurants, patrons should be given two hours, and then they should leave,” Anthony Azzopardi, president of the Association of Private Family Doctors, said.

Azzopardi said this would allow restaurants to accommodate more patrons for lunch or dinner. “Patrons should be forewarned that if they do not abide by the rules; then the authorities would come down on them very heavily.”

Azzopardi said that asking people to go to Valletta to see in the New Year will be a bad idea. “Even if there are separate areas of entertainment, people will mill around and shift from one area to the next: opportunities galore for the virus to spread,” he said.

And while Christmas is all about tradition and family get-togethers, denying people such an occasion would be difficult and actually unenforceable, Azzopardi admits. “We only have to rely on people’s good sense and the respect they have for their elderly relatives. It would be indeed a pity if such a family occasion turns into an opportunity for the virus to spread.”

Azzopardi said that it was “obvious” that the fewer people meet, the safer it is. “Only close family members should gather, and only if they are 100% sure they have not been exposed to possible contagion.”

Azzopardi added that masks and sanitizers should be used all the times except for the actual lunch or dinner. He even advises social distancing.

“This will limit the number of people in one house. Should the weather permit, which is quite possible, then setting up a table outside would be safer. The vast majority of the deaths we have had were among the elderly population. Let us not turn the Christmas dinner into a funeral feast,” Azzopardi said.

The honorary secretary of the Malta College of Family Doctors, Jason Bonnici, even said that Christmas should not be allowed to turn into ‘another summer’ where all caution was thrown to the wind. “In the next few weeks begins the hardest part of the pandemic for Malta as the cold settles in and with it, the seasonal respiratory tract infections, including influenza and in addition COVID-19,” Bonnici said.

Bonnici said the reason for this was that respiratory tract viruses thrive more in cold temperatures, explaining the seasonal surge in cases at this time. Additionally, a recent study, from the experience of countries which have gone through winters before Malta, showed that concurrent influenza and COVID-19 infections double the mortality from COVID-19.

“Rather than a time for complacency, the next few months are a time to chin up and be disciplined in order to care for the vulnerable, including the elderly, and keep the economy going. Only when a vaccination program for COVID-19 starts will we be approaching the end of the beginning of the pandemic,” he said.

Bonnici said the current recommendations are that people in the same household should stick together while wearing masks, reducing contact and appropriate washing of hands. In contrast, people, even relatives from other households, should maintain social distancing as well as the same wearing of masks, reducing contacts and appropriate washing of hands.

Bonnici said that Christmas was ultimately about love and peace. “There are various ways to bring this message across, not least, but not only, with yesterday’s and today’s means and technologies – all these ways will keep the social interaction that is the basis of mental well-being. Caring for the vulnerable, including the elderly, is then the message in action,” Bonnici said.