L uckily, some hotels are managing to survive by hosting the rich and elite of Madeira on weekends. Some of the same politicians that order you to lock yourselves up, and to wear masks and keep an anti-social distance are fraternizing with the wealthy elite of Madeira by the hotel pool and at dinner followed by drinks at the bar at midnight. Why not? I’m glad a few select hotels can recover some losses during the lockdown. The problem is, if you’re not earning more than 50,000€ a year or have a million in the bank, then you can’t. So go home alone to protect the government, but not the economy or your mental health.
The Regional government is ecstatic with the funding that is coming their way, especially with the 480,000,000€ ”Bazooka”. The money is great for “Direct Orders without tenders” and unnecessary road and viaduct building that finance parties (political parties, not just parties for politicians). A few businessmen are making huge profits with the Government’s Direct Orders whilst many hard-working Madeirans sit at home wondering how they are going to pay their bills or keep their businesses afloat and pay their employees.
Miguel Albuquerque and his government know full well that there is no reason to carry on with the curfew, masks and any other measures that restrict our lives. He does it because he is under orders and his government has been enticed with the Bazooka. Quite apart from the fact that he is under investigation over some dealings and he has to behave.
Let us look at the fatality rates. We have 71 who have died with Covid, of which nearly all, if not all had comorbidities and the median age is probably above 78, though I suspect it’s actually above 80. I have no wish to offend families of the bereaved, but we need to analyse the numbers that our politicians use to lock down society. If my memory serves me correctly, the last death with Covid was 2 weeks ago - aged 87. Why are we treating healthy people as if they were ill? Why are wearing masks that have been demonstrated in scientific studies to make no significant difference to viral transmission, and why are we in curfew / lockdown when again countries and states that are free, have low case numbers and deaths? Something is not right. We enjoy higher Ultraviolet light in Madeira which is known to supress winter viruses and lower fatalities
One of the big problems right now is that the majority of the population who have been obedient (quite understandably) are going to struggle with the idea that the government measures were unnecessarily harsh and detrimental to society. “Were we wrong?” we will ask ourselves. It hurts to admit it!
It is time to cancel all restrictive measures and let people pick up the pieces and rebuild. Those in tourism are still living in a nightmare as draconian measures by European governments are preventing tourists coming back.
By the way, the Logo is irrelevant. It’s all about the Charm of Madeira.
Jorma Talas
