MAM insists that advice of Prof Gauci is heeded and all mass events are banned

The Medical Association of Malta has insisted that the advice of Prof. Gauci is heeded and that “all mass events are cancelled as from next Monday.”

The MAM, in a statement on Saturday said that it welcomes the statement by the superintendent of public health that she is “completely against mass events, because as clearly stated in her document the relation with size and density of the population they could lead to an epidemic of uncontrollable proportions.”

MAM went on to say that it is “disappointed that the Tourism Ministry with the clear backing of the office of the prime minister not only chose to ignore the advice of the superintendent and authorised mass events but chose those events labelled as – extremely high risk.” These are, “Large face-to-face gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least 2 metres apart and attendees can also include persons who have travelled abroad in the previous 14 days,” as per the Superintendence of Public Health.

The MAM argued that “those involved in this decision should now consult their conscience on the damage they have caused to the health of those who have contracted the virus, and to the economic recovery of the country by ignoring sound scientific advice provided by prof. Gauci and her team.”

The superintendent was proven right, the Association said, as one event of 700 individuals, a band march in Santa Venera have led to a new spike of cases and possibly a new epidemic with numbers comparable to April.

The Association said that 10,000 individuals sought swabbing in the space of 48 hours, when the swabbing capacity was 1,000 per day with the result that the track and trace arm of control was overwhelmed.”

It warned that, “this also means that the actual number of current positives may be as high as 4 times the reported number.”

MAM said that while it welcomes the cancellation of the 4 potentially catastrophic reveller’s parties, it insists that the advice of the Superintendent is heeded and all mass events are banned as from Monday until the new spike/epidemic is brought under control, because the country risks blacklisting for tourism by all other EU countries.

It also stressed that, “legally enforcible regulations of the wearing of facemasks indoors enforcible by fines, identical to those in virtually all other EU countries should be introduced with immediate effect.”

MAM concluded by saying that it will wait for the government response and the MAM council will “decide whether to suspend the directives planned for Monday.”

On Friday evening, the Superintendence of Public Health issued standards for “gatherings and events.” These can be read in full by clicking here ^[1].

In a statement the Superintendence said that, “in the context of the COVID-19 transition phase, gatherings and mass events present a risk of increasing the transmission rate of the virus in view of the potential for close contact between many persons for an extended time period.”

It said that “the more people an individual interacts with at a gathering or mass event and the longer that interaction lasts, the higher the potential of becoming infected with COVID-19 and of COVID-19 spreading. Higher levels of community transmission at the time of the event and in the area that the gathering is being held can result in a higher potential for COVID-19 spread during the gathering.”

The Superintendence stressed that “in this context, large events have a particularly substantial impact on the health system capacity and resources if they result in a significant number of new COVID-19 cases.”

Highlighted in red, Prof Gauci stated, “for this reason, the Superintendence of Public Health reiterates its position that it is not in favour of the organisation of mass gatherings or events. Nonetheless, these standards have been issued to mitigate against the transmission of COVID-19 in events and gatherings as defined within this document.”