The Gibraltar curve looks more like a spike

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 Monday, March 30, 2020 - 09:27

by SAMANTHA SACRAMENTO

Minister for Civil Contingencies*

I would like to give you an overview and an update of the work being undertaken by the Office of Civil Contingencies and I’d like to assure you that everything that is happening during this pandemic is co-ordinated through the Office of Civil Contingencies under the direction of the Civil Contingencies Co-ordinator, Ivor Lopez. This is essentially the nerve centre for what is happening in Gibraltar.

I can assure you that this office is calm, organised and is run with military precision. There is a lot that this office is doing and indeed we are having on certain topics – the biggest ones – almost daily meetings because the progress is so fast and because things are changing so rapidly. Importantly, I wanted to let you know that we are making good progress on our field hospital up at the Europa Sports Centre. This will be a cohort nursing facility so that we can keep St. Bernard’s, which is one of our most precious resources, free for the most serious cases.

STAY INDOORS

As you all know, our objection is to flatten the curve because this is how we save lives. Our frail, elderly as you know are the most at risk so the best thing that we can do for them is to stay indoors and also ensure that they stay indoors because there are some people who have just not yet appreciated how contagious this virus is and how serious the situation can get if we do not follow the guidance. If people do not follow our advice and the measures that are put in place, then the positive cases that we have will just shoot up.

Because of Gibraltar’s density, we are seeing a curve when we look at other countries. Because of our density, our curve will look more like a spike and that is why our Government have taken the measures that we have taken and if you analyse the measures that we have taken, we’ve taken them well ahead of other countries. We have not waited to have hundreds of deaths before we put these measures in place. We have put them in place before we have had any and the reason that these steps have been taken and such drastic steps have been taken is to save lives.

People need to understand how serious this virus is and the risk that it poses to all of us. For the majority of us, unless there is an underlying issue, we will get ill but because it is so contagious, if we pass it on to people who are over 70, it could be lethal and people really need to realise that.

I know that it’s difficult to stay home, I know that culturally we like to go out and in Gibraltar we have nice weather but I really would urge that people stay indoors for their own safety. There are many alternatives that people can do indoors. A lot of people nowadays will have access to tablets and access to the wifi and we can get in touch with each other through this media. I know that of course as a culture we like to be close to each other but for this period, it’s just not possible and I cannot stress that enough.

We’ve already started a programme to train key people within these organisations to provide first tier support and we also have a team to provide further support thereafter should the need arise. We have also got a strategy in place for the community at large for we understand that it is difficult and it is stressful to be at home, alone for long periods of time and we want to continue to communicate that message of wellbeing because that message is so important.

VOLUNTEERS

We are also mindful that unfortunately people being together for long periods of time may arise in making particular groups more vulnerable and we want to ensure that people are supported so that there isn’t a spike in domestic abuse and that there isn’t a spike in abuse or neglect of children, so there are very robust plans in place for that. We are also very fortunate to live in the community in which we do and we already have almost 1000 people who have volunteered to help in one way or another. We have people who are available to deliver things and we have people who are available to undertake all sorts of tasks that are necessary for us. We also want to assure everyone that the list of volunteers that we have, have all been vetted before they are deployed because we are not going to compromise on safeguarding issues because we are in an emergency.

We want to let everybody know that we are thinking of everything. We have a logistical support group to make sure that anyone who needs advice or equipment also have it available. As you can important that we continue to support them and to show our gratitude.

 

30-03-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR