{"id":3577,"date":"2020-05-14T13:58:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T11:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/?post_type=article&p=3577"},"modified":"2020-05-14T13:58:47","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T11:58:47","slug":"it-tbeghid-socjali-mhux-kulhadd-ghandu-dan-il-lussu","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/article\/it-tbeghid-socjali-mhux-kulhadd-ghandu-dan-il-lussu\/","title":{"rendered":"Social distancing \u2026 not everyone has the luxury"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The health authorities continue to\u00a0<\/span>appeal to the public to stay at home as much as possible and for people to keep their distance from one another when they go out to work or to buy essential items. In Malta, like in other countries around the world, social distancing is being enforced and anyone in a group of more than\u00a0<\/span>four<\/span>\u00a0people is being fined.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ho<\/span>w<\/span>ever, not everyone has the luxury of staying away from other people and staying\u00a0<\/span>at\u00a0<\/span>home.<\/span>\u00a0Many workers know how the virus is spread and do not want to get sick but they must continue to provide a service to the community. Among them are hospital workers, first responders, cashiers and supermarket employees and carers at homes for the elderly and for people with a disability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span>\u00a0would think that these people would also prefer to stay at home with their loved ones, ordering take outs and taking care of their children. Where possible, people are being offered the opportunity to work from home. But there are workers who have to use public transport so have to mingle with other people, who worry when their colleagues cough in their presence or who are working in places lacking sanitizers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The virus is not our fault, but ignoring the\u00a0<\/span>authorities\u2019 advice to stay at home and going out for no reason, or not sufficiently protecting employees \u2013 this, yes, is our fault. We should not be selfish, we need to focus on not getting sick and not letting others get sick.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of<\/span>\u00a0this crisis,\u00a0<\/span>Voice of the Workers<\/span><\/i>\u00a0hails and thanks those workers who are providing essential and invaluable services to the community, among them the nurses, doctors and other professionals working in hospitals, pharmacists, ambulance drivers, public transport drivers,\u00a0<\/span>mechanics<\/span>\u00a0who\u00a0<\/span>tend to these vehicles<\/span>\u00a0as well as engineers whose\u00a0<\/span>job is to see that power stations, sewage plants and hospital systems are up and runnin<\/span>g.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We must not\u00a0 forget<\/span>, amongst others,<\/span>\u00a0port<\/span>\u00a0workers and those who work at the Free Port, cleaners, domestic refuse collectors, postal workers, the police, Civil Protection employees, soldiers helping to distribute meals and other provisions to those who are in quarantine, grocery owners who have remained open, other food outlets, supermarket workers and fruit\u00a0<\/span>and vegetable sellers.<\/span>\u00a0And what\u00a0<\/span>about journalists<\/span>\u00a0and people in the media who update us with<\/span>\u00a0the daily news? Besides,\u00a0<\/span>we must also thank other\u00a0<\/span>vital\u00a0<\/span>workers<\/span>\u00a0who\u00a0<\/span>also contribute to provide\u00a0<\/span>their very best\u00a0<\/span>notwithstanding the present circumstances.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our survival depends on these people who are going out to work to ensure that they are doing what they can for all of us \u2026 and doing it with courage and determination.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The health authorities continue to\u00a0appeal to the public to stay at home as much as possible and for people to keep their distance from one another when they go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3579,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[164],"issuem_issue_categories":[7],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3577"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3583,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3577\/revisions\/3583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=3577"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=3577"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=3577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}