Romania wasn’t ready for COVID-19 and the authorities haven’t anticipated the scale of the epidemic, despite their promises to do so. Moreover, despite the World Health Organization’s early warnings, Romania hasn’t prepared for the worst. On top of that, Romanian Government manages the situation so badly that even the international publications noticed and blamed the Romanian authorities for the mismanagement of the crisis.
Here are the 5 reasons for which Romania wasn’t ready for COVID-19 crisis:
1. Political change from October
In October 2019 the former government, the social-democratic one, was ousted from power following a motion of confidence in Parliament initiated by the National Liberal Party. That was just before China identified and reported its first cases of COVID-19 infections.
In general, any change in political power comes along with a series of actions which break the chain of command, and Romania was not an exception. Politicians often seek to remove the ‘old guard‘ from the ministers, and the new persons in charge need some time to get acquainted with their duties and responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the existing and the remaining staff from the key ministries are more concerned about their personal conservation instead of continuing to perform at job.
2. The obsession of the president and the PM with the anticipated elections
The obsession of the president Klaus Iohannis and of the PM Ludovic Orban with organizing anticipated elections as early as possible created a dolce far niente way of work in the key ministries and within the government itself.
The political games of National Liberal Party, who tried to impose anticipated elections, became omnipresent in mass-media and this was all that matters for the journalists and politicians, but also for the general public.
The pandemic WHO warned the world leaders about was secondary. Anticipated elections possibilities were on debate in prime-time. COVID-19 was something that takes place only in China.
3. The governing party leaders tried to move the COVID-19 concerns on a secondary level
That happened not only in February, when in Romania was confirmed the first COVID-19 case, but also in early March. President Klaus Iohannis, a former member and, as analysts say, the informal leader of the governing party, said that this novel Coronavirus generates nothing, but only an easy common cold.
Also, when asked by a journalist about how the Romanian Government is prepared to fight the coming crisis, the PM asked back, literally: ‘What crisis‘?
This kind of speech has changed dramatically in the last weeks. The president Iohannis is talking now about a war with the epidemic, and the PM apologized for his Government’s failure in managing the crisis.
4. Delays in acquiring the necessary protective clothing for the doctors
The Romanian PM, Ludovic Orban, ensured the Romanian people in February that the authorities were ready to fight CVOID-19 epidemic. It proved they were not.
Later on, in March, the same PM offered his regrets that the Romanian authorities can’t even protect the doctors.
By delaying in buying the necessary protective gear for the doctors, but also the necessary medical equipment, such as the life saving ventilators, the Romanian Government dwindled its chances in properly fight against the spread of the COVID-19 in Romania.
5. A lack of reaction when Diaspora started to come home from the ‘red-zone countries’
When Romanian Diaspora started to come back home, Romanian Government was paralyzed. By failing to manage the returning home of more than 200,000 Romanians, most of them coming from Italy, Spain and England, all these being red-zone countries, the Romanian authorities simply let the COVID-19 infected persons travel around the country.
All these persons transmitted the virus to their relatives and there are numerous cases where the deceased persons were contacts of their relatives who just came back home from Italy, Spain and England.
Instead of stopping everyone at the border and organizing in the counties near the border the isolation and the quarantine, the authorities told everybody to go to their homes and to stay in isolation for 14 days. No one checked if this recommendation is followed until it was too late.
The emergency state was declared only in mid March, when the infections started to spread all over the country.
In conclusion
There were many mistakes from the Romanian governing party along the way. Some bigger, some smaller, but the management of the COVID-19 epidemic was a faulty one.
In just a few weeks, the National Liberal Party dropped in confidence among population with 10%. Simply said, they lost everything they earned from October to February and they will continue to drop significantly in confidence.
It is a tough lesson for the politicians and for the people altogether. Politicians should learn that political statements cannot replace efficient measures taken in due time, and people should learn that in difficult times like this the country should be governed by competent leaders who are ready to act more and to talk less.
Photo source: presidency.ro
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