Greece social briefing: Fighting the Pandemic - China-CEE ...

ISSN: 2560-1601

                                                                                      Vol. 33, No. 3 (GR)

                                                                                           October 2020

                                           Greece social briefing:
                                           Fighting the Pandemic
                                            George N. Tzogopoulos

                                                               1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11.

                                                               +36 1 5858 690
Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft.
                                                               office@china-cee.eu
Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin
Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping                          china-cee.eu

2017/01

Fighting the Pandemic

      The last days of October 2020 saw a spike in COVID-19 cases in Greece. In the end of
the month Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a partial lockdown for the country
which was followed by the decision to impose a full lockdown in Thessaloniki and Serres.
Although Greece successfully managed the first wave of the pandemic in March and April, it
now needs to efficiently respond to the second one. The rise in the number of cases has been
the result of both government relaxation and individual irresponsibility. The new mission of the
Greek government is far from easy. Although most Greeks understand the unprecedented
challenges, the achievement of a balance between public health and economic recovery appears
delicate.

      On 31 October 2020 Greece announced the highest number of COVID-19 cases since the
outbreak of the pandemic: 2056. The total amount of cases amounted to 39251 by the end of
the month. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis intended to impose new measures the day
before, on 30 October, when 1690 new cases were reported. However, an earthquake that hit
Samos and Izmir on that day postponed his statement. The 6.7 magnitude tremor killed two
people in Samos and many more in Izmir while it found at least 300 buildings on the Aegean
island unsafe. Mitsotakis travelled to Samos in order to evaluate damages and also met with
the parents of the two teenagers who died when a wall collapsed.

      On 31 October, the Greek Prime Minister gave his speech and divided the country in two
zones, the yellow one (monitoring situation) and the red one (high risk). The yellow zone
includes Aitoloakarnania, Andros, Argolida, Arkadia, Arta, Achaia, Attika islands, Corinthia,
Chania, Cephalonia, Chios, Corfu, Evia, Evritania, Fthiotida, Florina, Fokida, Grevena,
Herakleion, Ikaria, Ileia, Ithaca, Kalymnos, Karditsa, Karpathos-Kasos, Kos, Lakonia, Lasithi,
Lefkada, Lesvos, Limnos, Magnisia, Messinia, Milos, Mykonos, Paros, Preveza, Rethymno,
Rhodes, Samos, Sporades islands, Syros, Tinos, Thasos, Thesprotia, and Zakynthos. The red
zone encompasses: Chalkidiki, Central Athens, Eastern Attika, Evros, Imathia, Ioannina,
Kavala, Kastoria, Kilkis, Kozani, Larisa, Naxos, Northern Athens, Pieria, Piraeus, Pella,
Rodopi, Serres, Southern Athens, Thessaloniki, Thira, Trikala, Viotia and Western Athens and
Xanthi.

                                               1

New measures applied for the whole country, including in yellow zones, are the
mandatory use of masks in all indoor and outdoor public spaces, the curfew from 12 midnight
to 5 am, the obligatory teleworking for half of employees in the private and public sectors, the
replacement of face-to-face education with online one and the banning of all public gatherings.
In red zones, however, more restrictions do apply. These are the suspension of the operation of
restaurants, cafes and bars – with the exception of delivery and take away services – as well as
of museums, theatres and indoor gyms. As opposed to the March and April lockdown period,
schools, retail shops, hotels, outdoor archaeological sites and hair salons will remain open.
Additionally, travelling from county to county within Greece is allowed.

      The fight against the pandemic is hard and it is not only linked to governmental measures
but also to individual responsibility. On 30 October 2020, for example, the Hellenic Police
announced that it had carried out 44279 checks the day before registering 1357 violations of
rules. Several citizens were not wearing their masks while others were violating the public
curfew. Α Pulse poll organized in the end of October shows that younger people are less
concerned about the novel coronavirus in comparison to older ones. Specifically, the degree of
concerns varies from 60 and 59 percent (respondents from 17 to 29 years old and from 30 to 44
years old) to 76 and 83 percent (respondents from 45 to 59 years old and over 60 years old).
Αnother survey conducted by Marc company exhibits that 18,7 percent of respondents did not
consider COVID-19 more serious in comparison to a normal flu. And a YouGov-Cambridge
Globalism Project poll, which was designed in collaboration with The Guardian and presented
in the British newspaper on 26 October, outlines that 46 percent of respondents in Greece
thought that the death rate of the disease had been deliberately and greatly exaggerated. The
number was higher only in Nigeria (59 percent).

      No doubt, Greek citizens bear responsibility for the spike in COVID-19 cases in October.
However, the government itself has arguably lost control of the situation, especially in the last
ten days of the month. 411 COVID-19 cases were reported on 1 October and the daily number
of cases remained below 500 until 17 October (503). It then continuously rose before exceeding
2000 by the end of the month. Mitsotakis tends to say that Greece has coped with the problem
better than other countries in Western and Eastern Europe by looking at the number of fatalities.
Greece is placed it in the 102nd place in the world (55.7 deaths per 1 million people) and in the
22nd position among the 27 EU member-states. Also, according to the Greek observatory on
COVID-19, the daily average in the number of tests in the week from 22 until 28 October
amounted to 18534.

                                               2

Table: COVID-19 cases reported in Greece in October 2020-indicative days (Source:
Greek Public Health Organization)

 1/10 10/20 20/10 25/10 26/10 27/10 28/10 29/10 30/10 31/10
 411 307    667   935   715   1259 1547 1211 1690 2056

      A serious problem that Greece is encountered with is the rising number of occupied beds
in intensive care units. Data from the afore-mentioned observatory show that an increase of 46
percent in be occupancy was monitored in the end of the month. This increase was higher in
Athens (58 percent). The number of patients in need for treatment in intensive care units rose
from 86 to 108. This is the highest number since the outbreak of the pandemic. Disease expert
Professor Sotiris Tsiodras warned on 30 October that it was a ‘mathematical certainty’ that the
public health system would come under significant pressure. Only two days after Greek Prime
Minister announced new measures in response to the pandemic, the government went further.
It decided to impose a two-week full lockdown in Thessaloniki and Serres, although schools
would remain open. Subsequently, Aegean Airlines suspended domestic and international
flights to and from ‘Makedonia’ airport, from 3 until 17 November. Last but not least,
government spokesman Stelios Petsas did not exclude the possibility of extending the full
lockdown to cover the whole country.

      A survey conducted by Opinion Poll company in October shows that 51 percent of
respondents were highly or modestly optimistic about the management of the pandemic in
Greece. 48 percent replied they were highly or modestly pessimistic. Moreover, in the opinion
of 65 percent the performance of the government was satisfactory whereas 32 percent was
dissatisfied. Eurobarometer also offers useful data about the stance of public opinion in Greece
in comparison to that of other countries of the EU. The most recent survey (September-October
2020) shows that 79 percent of Greeks agreed that the EU should have a bigger budget to
overcome the consequences of the pandemic. This was the second higher percentage in the EU
followed by that of Cyprus (81 percent). While the EU average in this question was 55 percent,
it is clear that Greek citizens joined voices with the ones in other Southern countries, which
also included Spain and Malta (69 percent), Portugal (67 percent) and Italy (64 percent).
Furthermore, 55 percent of respondents in Greece believed that the current crisis had impacted
on their personal income. Even her, this was the highest percentage followed by that of Cyprus
(57 percent). The Greek percentage was equal with that of Spain.

                                               3

Conclusion

     The Greek government faces the second and more serious wave of the COVID-19
pandemic. The last days of October 2020 demonstrated that the period of relaxation had been
over. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis talked to Greek citizens in the end of October and
announced new measures including a partial lockdown. Greek citizens are not particularly
satisfied with the performance of the government but have not withdrawn their trust. A
comparison of the two main parties, the governing New Democracy and the main opposition
SYRIZA, in public perception favors the former. Numerous Greek citizens believe that a
SYRIZA administration would not have necessarily performed better. Furthermore, there is a
level of understanding that the current mission of the government has been particularly tough.
Most Greeks value public health but acknowledge that lockdown measures might damage the
national economy.

                                              4