Bloomberg: Prime minister’s lockdown leadership saved Greece during coronavirus

Like other countries in the European Union and the world suffered hard from the COVID-19 Coronavirus, Greece has fared far better, thanks to the calm leadership of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who recognized the danger and imposed a lockdown.

That was the assessment in a piece from the financial news agency Bloomberg by Ferdinando Giugliano, who writes on the European economy and said the irony comes after Greece being kicked around by European Union leaders during a nearly decade-long economic and austerity crisis.

How did Greece do it?

He said it was because Mitsotakis, who was already speeding a slow recovery after the anti-business 4 1/2-year reign of the former Radical Left SYRIZA which further cut health care budgets, ordered the closing of all non-essential businesses and social distance guidelines advising people to stay at least 1.5-meters (4.92 feet) apart.

Greece is the “one noticeable – and perhaps surprising – exception” to a trend of poor leadership exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he wrote.

“The government imposed severe social distancing measures at a much earlier stage of the epidemic than other southern European countries. For now, this swift reaction has helped Greece avoid the tragic healthcare crisis that richer states are facing,” he said.

While US President Donald Trump and British Premier Boris Johnson insisted there was little if no risk from COVID-19 and went about business as usual to save their economies before the virus raged through their countries, Greece was largely spared.

As of April 9, with three additional deaths, the toll was only 86 – every one a tragedy – but countless others saved by the lockdown with the number of cases at 1,955, far behind the per capita ratio of other countries, especially the UK, Spain, and Italy.

The article pointed out the early lockdown, which required people to stay home except for critical missions such as going to the supermarket, doctor, bank, pharmacy other essential businesses “reduced the pressure on the country’s precarious healthcare system,” which has one of the smallest ratios of intensive care unit beds per population in Europe in the wake of the economic crisis.

AYE AYE CAPTAIN

“Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has emerged as a voice of reason on the international stage… Greece’s political system as a whole, including the main opposition party SYRIZA, has reacted with composure… And the Greek population appears to be very mindful of respecting the lockdown rules, in part a result of the government’s steep penalties for noncompliance,” added Giuliano.

While tourism, the country’s most important revenue engine, which brings in as much as 18 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 183.3 billion euros ($200.3 billion) has also been shut down, Giugliano said he thinks it will come back.

“Given how quickly Greece responded to the outbreak, the country might be able to get back on its feet sooner than others,” he said, although if the lockdown goes on it may be too late to save the summer, the most important tourism period.

Takis Pappas, a political scientist at the University of Helsinki, compared the speed of the response in Greece, Italy and Spain with Greece shutting down most businesses, including bars, restaurants, clubs and taverns, four days after the first death.

A ban on non-essential movement in Greece came only a week afterward — faster than in either of the other two countries although Mitsotakis had to make a lockdown mandatory after widespread violations during a voluntary quarantine.

It hasn’t been flawless, with doctors and nurses and health care workers at hospitals complaining about shortages of critical equipment and a lack of testing before the government said it would roll out 500 mobile units to check potential cases.

TOO FEW DOCTORS

Still, the lockdown reduced the pressure on the already teetering health care system that was rocked by the exodus of thousands of doctors during the economic crisis who fled to other countries seeking better pay and more respect.

The Greek national health system (ESY) has only 605 intensive care units, of which only 557 were in operation due to staff shortages. Greece has a population of over 10 million people. That’s a worse ratio than that of Spain, which started with 4,400 ICUs for a population of nearly 47 million and has been overwhelmed by coronavirus cases.

Greece’s leadership has stood out, especially compared to Spain where the government dithered and denied and let major public gatherings go on, including demonstrations and soccer games, leading to near plague-like deaths, as happened in the US where Trump kept saying COVID-19 wasn’t a real problem and life would be normal by Easter.

Greece had 88 cases and 8 deaths per million people. Spain has 3,261 cases and 326 deaths per million people, and Italy had 2,375 and 302.

“This may be because Greece has performed less than half as many tests (per million people) as Spain has, and less than a quarter as many as Italy, but there are no signs that the pressure on its healthcare system is comparable,” Giugliano wrote.

The Greek government also said it has recruited 4,200 new doctors and increased by half the number of ICUs, which should help to contain a worsening of the outbreak.

Even the major opposition SYRIZA hasn’t bitten back at the government as the Leftist leader Alexis Tsipras is wont to do frequently, with surveys showing overwhelming support for the government even within his ranks were 75 percent applauded Mitsotakis’ handling of the crisis.

“And the Greek population appears to be very mindful of respecting the lockdown rules, in part a result of the government’s steep penalties for noncompliance,” including 150 euro ($164.15) fines for people out of their homes without a permissible reason or written permission, and 334 arrests of business owners who also faced fines of at least 5,000 euros ($5471.66) for defying orders to close.

“For years, much of Europe has looked down on Greece as an insolvable problem,” the article noted, closing this way: “For all its intrinsic fragilities, in this pandemic, Greece can walk with its head held high.”