How to Import Omicron: A Romanian Story

Omicron. This is the newest letter of the Greek alphabet to be learned by the world population. After this madness is over, we bet that the Greeks will start hating their alphabet and start learning Chinese. Not Chinese, but you understand our point here.

Let the jokes alone; this is about a very serious, predictable, and mismanaged situation. It happened in Romania, where they have a saying which cannot be translated appropriately or reproduced, but it goes something like this: ‘When you do good to the others, you make love with your mother.’ The saying is about the situation when you try to help some, but harm yourself.

In November, this situation was with the Romanian National rugby champion team, Baia Mare, stuck in South Africa. They couldn’t return home, as the European Union banned all flights from Africa in an attempt to stop the Omicron variant from spreading on the old continent.

Romanian authorities thought differently. Up to a point, we might say their judgement was pretty solid. Basically, you don’t leave your comrades behind. The Romanian Government sent a charter to repatriate all the Romanians and helped other Europeans stuck in South Africa get back to Europe safely.

But there was where all the trouble began. As the rugby players and other passengers arrived, they were tested but declared ‘not infected.’ That offered them and all their dear ones a feeling of certainty. Even though they were supposed to be in quarantine, for sure, they were in contact with other people, such as family members and maybe some friends.

Only after a week, the first results of the tests arrive. Two of the passengers from that charter were confirmed as infected with Omicron. Later on, other passengers got the same result from the rugby team.

How can we call this? A successful import of Omicron. Before that plane arrived, no Omicron case had been detected in Romania. After that, seven patients are suspected or already confirmed as Omicron infected.

The conclusion? The Romanian authorities have not learned their lesson even after two years of madness. No problem, they will definitely quarantine the country again. It’s not Romanians’ fault, though. It’s because of this successful governmental import of Omicron, directly from the source: South Africa.

Don’t get us wrong. It is a good thing all Romanians were repatriated, it is very bad they were declared not infected at the airport, without being isolated, only to find out, a week later, that they were actually infected with Omicron.