Economy and Covid crisis | Let's not wait any longer for the "Peak"!

The info fell and should have made us jump for joy.

The “Peak” of contaminations was “very likely” reached the week of January 17 to 23 (2022), announced the coordinator of the National Center for Public Health Emergency Operations at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Mouad Merabet, who added that the positivity rate stagnated nationwide, for the second week in a row, at 24.4%.

This "Pic", we have been waiting for it for a long time.

And for good reason… It represents the “beginning-of-the-beginning-of-the-end” of this cursed pandemic.

With Omicron, we are in the 4th, 5th, or 6th wave… We are no longer keeping track of the accounts very well, after two years of a flood of “variants”.

With the “Pic”, it is finally the hope of putting an end to this nightmare…

Not quite, of course. We'll have to get used to living with what's left of it.

@RightWingCope @lesvity Unfortunately, this equation is not (6/2)*(1+2). It is 6/(2(1+2)). You can infer this becau… https://t.co/cFgTXa7Uzk

— Vineet Chandra Mon Apr 19 01:11:18 +0000 2021

And not right away, either. Mouad Merabet warned that after the “Pic”, “at least two difficult weeks await us in terms of severe, critical cases and mortality”. But we can say to ourselves that two “small” weeks, after two long years and all the “waves”, it is not the sea to drink… Even if the prospect of new infections, even new deaths, is regrettable.

However, there is a downside to this happy announcement. And the problem is not in the evaluation of the time which will follow the "Peak". It is in the very location of the “Pic”. Because, both Mouad Merabet and the other experts and members of the Scientific Committee who follow the evolution of the pandemic, remain cautious about the exact date when it would be reached.

The expressions "very likely", "unless surprised" with which they take the precaution of accompanying their announcements of the "Peak", show us, those of us who are hanging on their lips, that there is no certainty in this subject… While we are all waiting for this “Peak” which will save us, save our economy, our tourism, which will save all the sectors which are dying under the effect of the pandemic and its dramatic consequences…

Of course, scientists cannot decree that the "Peak" has been reached if it has not been. It is not for them to make a decision of convenience, but to establish a scientific observation. The question is, do they have the same criteria for scientifically locating the “peak” of a wave? Is the stagnation of contamination sufficient? How long must it last to be considered proof of the "Peak" reached?

These questions that citizens are asking are of capital importance in the current context. In reality, we are all desperate to locate this life-saving “Peak”, for all bans and restrictions to be lifted.

Reopening of borders, resumption of activities in all sectors of the economy, possibility of visibility for companies and the business world...

Even the members of the Scientific Committee, officially in charge of the management of the pandemic, believe that it is time for life to resume its normal course.

Today, there is red alert on the country's economy. Citizens now know what they have to do to protect themselves. The part of the State, in this protection, can be limited to preventive and control measures (requirement of a vaccination pass and negative PCR tests at the borders – or even isolation, in case of doubt –, continuation of calls for vaccination inside the country…).

It is therefore the country's economy that needs assistance. It is not the State that creates the most jobs, but the company. And businesses can only remain viable with a normal resumption of economic activities. In 2021, GDP growth in Morocco was +6%, according to experts, who predict that it will be 2.9% in 2022. However, the minimum required is 3% for job-creating growth. …

Let's no longer wait for the “Pic”. Let's just do like other countries more affected by the pandemic than us: think about the economy and jobs!

Bahia Amrani