According to officials in Athens, the desperate drive to reboot Greece’s tourism has nothing whatsoever to do with spiking COVID-19 cases in the country. The government’s Infectious disease expert Charalambos Gogos has gone on record denying any claims the restart of tourism plays a role. Unfortunately, the churning humanity crowding Greek island bars and nightclubs do seem to have an effect. Or, if not, why all the insistence on new curfews etc?
From the public relations and marketing perspective, the expert typing this report (yeah, me) thinks the wave after wave of coronavirus across Greece has everything to do with the government’s ill advised frantic campaigning to restart the sector. Or, in more brisk terms, COVID-19 is surging in Greece because of the imbecillic puppets trying to cover up this mess. Let me illustrate first by quoting Dr. Gogos about his view that the tourism “bet” has anything to do with the delta variant now rampaging across the country:
“The bet on tourism is being won so far.”
Why would he utter these words if not to counter assertions that this “bet” was a bad one? Is immunology about Las Vegas? Correct me if I am wrong here, but did someone call in a bookey instead of a doctor to assess Greece’s COVID situation? Oh, but the stupidity gets a lot worse. Here is a passage from GTP, the news outlet parroting everything the Mitsotakis administration churns out:
“The infectious disease expert added that Greece will unlikely be able to achieve herd immunity this summer and advised testing on all travelers – vaccinated or not – returning from their holidays.”
Hmm. Let’s see. Delta variant, which can circumvent the current vaccinations and infect immunized subjects, it can be carried back to England or Germany by tourists? Are you the reader wondering why nobody thought of that, as well? And what about all the 20 something Greeks who would as soon risk death by firing squad rather than be vaccinated with the Bill Gates pharmaceutical poisons? Where did their attitude come from?
Okay, so if the one in ten partying people found to have COVID on Mykonos recently were all locals… I’ll let you cook that one in your own head. One thing is certain, the incidence rate on that famous island is not going down. This, for me, means that sooner or later everybody on Mykonos will either have or be exposed to COVID-D. And the party goes on! Who do these people think they are fooling? Meanwhile, 44 minutes ago on the island, the situation is well out of the control of police, and out of reach of the government’s measuring systems. Click the Instagram below, and think about the “bet” these experts say we are winning.
Right here is as good a place as any to whistleblow on Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis, who claimed back in early June that “Since Greece opened for tourism, COVID-19 infections have dropped steadily.” I am serious, that was the headline from Greek City Times. He even went to far as to that the measures that had been put in place were ‘friendly’ for the general public, and ‘tailored’ for those wishing to travel.
Snapping back to the present, now get this. According to the National Public Health Organization (EODY) the viral load on the islands of Naxos, Paros, Rhodes, Crete (Rethymno, Heraklion and Chania), Tinos, Chios, Mykonos, Kalymnos, and Andros has increased over the past few days. No kidding. So, what Charalambos Gogos is saying is akin to “Remain calm. We have this Apocolypse fully under control!” Who does this sound like, Harry Theoharis or Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself? Both, right? Blue Freedom, my behind. The genius move to vaccinate islands before COVID inundated cities has blown up in their faces and somebody is yelling “Reputation management team, alert!”
And my final notes today. Mitsotakis is saying there will be no new lockdown, no matter what. However, he promised a new campaign encouraging vaccination will be launched in September. Now, how come a campaign encouraging vaccines was not undertaken before Greek Vacation 2021 was marketed worldwide? Did I miss the daily infomercials and media outreach to GTP and others informing 20 something and the elderly how come they needed vaccinations? Or, did the government just let fake news and the anti-vaxxing idiots take over? We know the answer Mr. Mitsotakis, so don’t bother. Your COVID craps die roll is here on the gambling table. Let me refer you imbeciles to something a real transportation minister, the UK’s Grant Shapps said back in June:
“I think most people agree that we’ve got to be cautious. I am the transport secretary, I want transport to happen, I want international transport to happen, but I think most people appreciate that what we need to do is open up cautiously.”
And this statement came at a moment when Ryanair and a hundred other corporate travel entities were screaming their heads off to cram travelers into planes, ships, hotels, and restaurants all over Europe. Meanwhile, CNN reported in June that “Greece’s Mykonos says it’s ready to party like before Covid.” As I reflect on this I wonder, “Just how deep do these corporate puppet leaders need me to go in resurfacing all their dumbness? It’s all a matter of record now. Do I really need to dig it all back up? Blue Freedom announcements and narrative alone, might keep me busy half a day. Given the fact these officials knew vaccination rates on some of the islands were not what they should have been back in June, why did the government open the islands with slow immunization uptake? I know, they just said “Screw it!” And welcomed the partygoers anyhow. I guess they figured deploying spy drones would solve the issue.
These morons gave the “all clear” the instant the tourism ministry started pimping “All You Want Is Greece,” and the other expensive PR campaigns to drive tourists back to these islands. Here on Crete, young people were left to their own devices to figure out whether or not they should get vaccinated. Then, when it became clear that many people were afraid, their prime minister blamed them for recurrent waves of COVID. Oh, and he blamed the EU, vaccine makers, and anybody else he could name to defer the blame for a disaster. Remember, back in May of 2020 how Mitsotakis and Theoharis pounded their chests over Greek leadership flawlessness. This was when there were 4,000 cases overall. Now we have that many in one day.
As I type this the coronavirus numbers from EODY are down in Crete, where a curfew and other measures were reinstituded. Overall, the total number is down substantially, except for places like Mykonos and these other islands. Party central has had an incidence rate above 200 per 100,000 since the government rebooted the festivities on the famous island. In Heraklion, where restrictions were instituted, thecases are a third what they were a few days ago. But, Naxos and Paros are still in a serious situation. I can’t help but wonder at the coincidence of crowded party places with unbridled hell raising going on seem to be the center of this pandemic?
The COVID craps roll is anything but a “bet” won in my estimation. And, I might add, in the estimation of every Greek I talk with these days. Just how these people remain in office up until now, is a mystery that needs solving. And as for Dr. Gogos, who’s expertness in immunology is unquestioned, I suggest he confer with a psychologist and a sociologist colleague to refine his ideas on whether or not bursting open a tourism season could affect the collective Greek psyche. \These people opened Pandora’s Box, and refuse to even try to close the lid.
Shame on you, all of you.