My blog

Poland is losing to the virus. The health service is at the edge of its capacity, there is information and decision-making chaos. The government has neglected to carry out many necessary and critical actions, and instead is carrying out a number of actions that it should not have carried out. The Prime Minister, who bears personal responsibility for this state of affairs, is manipulating the facts and consciously or unconsciously (what's the difference) presenting an untrue picture of the situation, and instead of acting, he is mainly devoted to the propaganda of success, convincing everyone that we are the best in Europe to cope with the coronavirus.

Let's look at the hard facts.

Firstly. We are in one of the last places in Europe in terms of the number of tests performed. Out of the 27 European Union countries, only Bulgaria is worse. In Poland, around 170,000 tests have been performed per million inhabitants, while in the best country Luxembourg 2.1 million, Spain, which was hit the hardest by the first wave, 470,000, and Germany, the most populous, 330,000. In Poland, mainly reactive tests are performed, i.e. they are performed on people who have symptoms of the disease, and almost no screening tests are performed at all, i.e. on healthy people. That is why the percentage of positive tests is 30%, 40% or even 50% (according to yesterday's data, 42,000 tests were performed, and 16,000 positive cases were detected, which means 38% of positive cases). The World Health Organization states that the virus stops spreading when the number of positive tests is around 5%. By performing tests only on people with symptoms, it is difficult to achieve such a rate. Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Secondly. The National Health Fund pays laboratories performing COVID tests PLN 280 for performing one test, which is more than three times more than in Germany. The main problem, however, is not that testing is a lucrative business, but that the state very superficially controls laboratories, does not examine the quality of testing, and gives consent to launch laboratories in non-transparent and unclear circumstances. A shocking case from recent days - Justyna M., who single-handedly issued an opinion for the Ministry of Health on whether laboratories can start testing, was employed in one of them as a consultant with a salary of PLN 30,000. Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Thirdly. Since the beginning of the epidemic, data on the number of positive COVID tests has been forwarded by laboratories to the district Sanitary Inspectorate stations, which then send them to the Chief Sanitary Inspector, and based on information from him, the Ministry of Health publishes the number of people infected with COVID in Poland on a daily basis. Michał Rogalski, a talented nineteen-year-old from Toruń, created his own database of infections, powered by data published by the district Sanitary Inspectorate, and discovered that the daily numbers of infections he collected did not match the government data. The differences had been growing for some time, reaching 22,000 at the peak on November 23. That day, the Ministry of Health reported that the number of infections was around 15,000, and according to the data collected by Michał Rogalski, it was 37,000, well above the threshold the government had set for the introduction of a national quarantine! And what is our government doing to deal with such unprofessionalism in the operation of its agencies? It's simple. As of November 25, the district sanitary inspections will stop publishing data. Now no one will be able to check the accuracy of the data, and the government will be able to shape the infection statistics without restrictions. Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Fourthly. The government based its decisions on freezing and unfreezing the economy on the number of infections. For example, it was assumed that a national quarantine would be introduced when the number of infections oscillated for 7 days at the level of 27-29 thousand, and when this value returned to 9,400, the rules of the red zone would start to apply again in the whole of Poland. In reality, the number of infections should not be the decisive indicator examined by the government. We do not know what percentage of infected people are hospitalized, we do not know what percentage of hospitalized people go to the intensive care unit, we do not know what percentage of people are put on a ventilator, we do not know any data in individual hospitals on the number of patients, the number of beds, the number of ventilators, etc. The government publishes the nationwide number of beds, ventilators and people in quarantine every day, but this data does not say much and does not give a true picture of the situation. There is no government and publicly available database with information on the coronavirus, as is done in other civilized countries. The only information is published by the Ministry of Health on Twitter. How to manage a pandemic if you know nothing about it? Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Fifthly. I have the impression that the government has completely forgotten that people in Poland also suffer from diseases other than COVID. The government is not saying anything about changes in the availability of non-COVID healthcare for Poles. How has the number of chemotherapy treatments changed compared to the previous year. How many cancer removal surgeries are performed? How has the average waiting time for an emergency room changed? How long do people wait for a stone removal surgery today? Is anyone observing or measuring this? If so, what are the conclusions? Does the fact that the government is not saying anything about this mean that nothing alarming is happening, or maybe things are looking bad, or maybe even terrible, but the government is covering it up? Or maybe the government is simply not dealing with it at all because it employs amateurs, does not have time, or does not give a damn? Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Sixth. The government does not support doctors, nurses, orderlies in these difficult days. One of the ministers, the one responsible for postal elections, even allowed himself to express the opinion recently that doctors are not engaged enough. The Sejm recently passed a law that increases the salaries of doctors fighting on the front line with COVID by 100% (in reality, it concerns doctors delegated to work with COVID by voivodes). The government is making it clear in this matter that it simply does not care about the remaining doctors who work in the "normal" health service. Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Seventh. The government has not noticed that the pandemic has begun to kill Poles on a massive scale. And it is not about those who die while infected with the virus at the time of death. It is about the huge increase in all deaths that we are dealing with. However, the government does not seem to see this. The Central Statistical Office collects data on this subject, but does not publish it on its websites on an ongoing basis, but sends it with a one-month delay to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. From this data, we can read that in October 2020 (exactly from October 5 to November 1), 15 thousand more people died in Poland than in the same period last year, which is an increase of 47%. Among the Poles dying during this period (45,407 deaths), only 7% were infected with coronavirus. The result of 47% gives us a clear lead in Europe. In second place in terms of the increase in the total number of deaths is the Czech Republic - an increase of 27%, then Belgium - 27%, Spain - 24%, Malta - 22%, Liechtenstein - 19%, Bulgaria - 19%, Hungary - 18%, the Netherlands - 16%, Lithuania - 16%, Iceland - 16%, France 15%, Austria - 12%, Slovakia - 11%, Portugal - 11%, Croatia - 11%, Switzerland - 9%, Great Britain 5%, Latvia 4%, Estonia 1%. Why is the government not talking about this? Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Eighth. The government left the non-vid healthcare service to itself. It took away the positions and infrastructure, which it moved to combat the coronavirus. However, not a single penny was spent on the non-vid healthcare service, no protective measures were introduced, doctors, nurses and orderlies received no support, with a much greater number of tasks and fewer beds. The result? 15 thousand deaths in October. And how many people's health deteriorated? How many people had their surgeries canceled? Nobody knows because nobody is investigating it. Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Ninth. The government boasts that it is building backup hospitals for a rainy day. According to the government, this rainy day has yet to come. And that is why 1,200 places in the national hospital are empty. And at the same time, 15,000 Poles are dying, among other things, due to the lack of free places in hospitals. Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

Tenth. The government's decisions regarding the introduction and removal of restrictions have nothing to do with common sense. A ban on entering the forest. Closing gyms due to low ceilings. Closing cinemas, theatres, restaurants, but leaving churches open. Hours for seniors, instead of at least temporary opening of trade on Sundays. Closing ski slopes, only to open them two days later, but without the possibility of using the hotel. Accumulation of winter holidays for all students. Where is the sense in that? Where is the logic? Morawiecki is responsible for this state of affairs.

I want to cry.