There are fewer of us
Exhausted by a year of pandemic, we watch with horror as its third wave grows. We are lucky. Science has developed and introduced a vaccine at an unprecedented and express pace. However, everything indicates that, at least in our country, progress in its application will not stop the coming tsunami. Although over four million vaccines have already been administered to our compatriots, and the average age of COVID patients in hospitals has recently decreased slightly, it is not known whether this is the effect of vaccinations or changes in the characteristics of the mutating virus.
The first wave of the coronavirus pandemic fortunately bypassed Poland. The second showed that we are defenseless, powerless and completely unprepared against it. Our country suffered a complete defeat. Like no other in Europe.
The best measure of this disaster is the deaths.
In the first wave, i.e. in the first half of 2020, Great Britain suffered the most in this respect, with 68,829 more British deaths than in the first half of 2019. This is an increase of 22%. In second place was Spain with 42,623 deaths (an increase of 19%), in third place Italy with 36,070 (an increase of 11%). In fourth place France with 18,482 deaths (an increase of 6%). In fifth place the Netherlands with 8,623 deaths (an increase of 11%).
In the case of the second wave, the leader of this macabre ranking was Poland. In the second half of 2020, 80,983 more Poles died than in the same period of the previous year. The number of deaths increased by 41%! In second place was Italy - 77,282 deaths (an increase of 26%). In third place was Germany - 60,734 (an increase of 13%). In fourth place was France - 48,583 deaths (an increase of 16%). In fifth place was Romania - 47,005 deaths (an increase of 39%).
Among these over 80 thousand excessive and unnecessary Polish deaths, less than 26 thousand people were infected with COVID. The rest, i.e. 54 thousand people died, although they were not infected with the virus. Shouldn't they then be referred to as victims of COVID? Absolutely not. They were also killed by COVID. But not directly. They would not have died if not for the pandemic. So why did they die? Why did Poland have the highest number of deaths in all of Europe? Can we leave these questions unanswered? On the eve of the third wave, shouldn't we draw the conclusions of wave number two?
Our governments keep repeating that our country is coping well with the pandemic. That we are doing well above average in Europe. That the situation in other countries is much worse than ours.
This is just cheap and primitive propaganda, the purpose of which is to cover up our terrible situation. The second wave of the pandemic in Poland has taken the greatest, deadliest toll in the whole of Europe. The number of deaths is the basic measure, defining how a given country is coping with the pandemic. Poland is doing the worst.
These excess deaths are caused by the failure of the health service. Our health service lost to the second wave of the pandemic. And these 80 thousand excess deaths are undeniable proof of that.
But our healthcare system lost this battle not because it is incompetent, disengaged or lazy. The reason for this defeat lies elsewhere. The sole responsibility for this state of affairs lies with those in power. Behind this defeat are their incompetence, inefficiency and amateurism.
I would not be able to point out any area of our government's actions in the fight against COVID that could be considered sensibly thought out and efficiently carried out. I have the impression that everything is being done in reverse, without thought, in a headlong manner. Managing regulations, purchasing and distributing masks, the way facilities are financed, the strategy of restrictions and lockdowns, access to tests, organizing tests, organizing quarantine, treating doctors, paying doctors, equipping hospitals, organizing temporary hospitals, supervising laboratories, helping entrepreneurs, IT systems - wherever you look, we are dealing with chaos, mess, inconsistency.
And this is the real cause of these 81,000 excess deaths.
In 2019, 375,000 children were born in Poland – the number of births returned to the level before the implementation of the 500+ program, and 410,000 people died. In 2019, we lost 35,000 – the most since World War II. Due to the pandemic, our demographic catastrophe continued in 2020. We lost 119,000.
