NYT: How Greeks Affected by the Economic Crisis Contributed to the Successful Treatment of the Crown | World

An extensive article / response by Matina Stevi-Gridneff from Brussels, published today on the New York Times website, shows how Greece (like Croatia) has been successful, despite its size, and the economic crisis that plagued it for almost one decade, to successfully confront the coronavirus pandemic, mobilizing its citizens.

Entitled “Hardened European States Demonstrate Resilience and Adaptability to Fight the Virus” and subtitled “Countries like Croatia and Greece, which took early steps to stop the spread of the spread, have generally been helped by citizen cooperation, shaken by recent experiences difficult. ” , of war or economic disaster “, the article refers to the reasons for the successful treatment of the pandemic in our country, but also in Croatia. In fact, it is announced that the article will appear in tomorrow’s edition of the New York Times.

Countries with strong reserves of resilience

Introductory, the columnist notes that as the crown spread across the world, the paradox seemed that the wealthiest and richest states were generally unable to successfully cope with the coronavirus pandemic. In Europe, for example, the disease has wreaked havoc in three of its largest economies: Britain, France, and Italy. But the poorer European states adopted and imposed severe restrictions from the beginning, insisted on them, and so far have done better and reduced the virus.

These countries, some of which are now carefully opening up their economies and societies, are the ones with strong resilience-adaptability reserves, rooted in relatively recent difficulties.
Compared to what their peoples suffered not so long ago, the strict blockades were less painful, and this obviously contributed to their broader social acceptance. These states include many of the blocs of the former eastern communist countries, but also Greece and Croatia, where the authorities are moderately optimistic about their peoples’ resistance to adversity, writes Matina Stevi.

He goes on to say that the University of Oxford has developed a scale based on the different responses to the pandemic, in an effort to rate the severity of the measures taken by governments. It is more serious in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe.

Thus, Greece managed to reduce the crown

More specifically for Greece, much of the article is dedicated, it is reported: In Greece, with new memories of the debt crisis, the possibility of one in three being unemployed was nothing new. Greece, shortly after Croatia, lifted the strict blockade on May 4 and approved, like other Eastern European states, a gradual return to normal in a sense.

The publication quotes the EKPA professor of psychology, Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, who specializes in the resistance and adaptability of societies to periods and situations of intense stress and prolonged adversity. The scientist points out that in the case of the crown pandemic, the resilience alone (of the population) does not explain why some states have handled this crisis better: the positive attitude (of the crisis) comes from the fact that that citizens believed in government measures, a fact. which led to compliance, obedience and trust. And as I added, resistance and rigor go hand in hand to address the spread of the pandemic.

In Greece, the relatively small number of 151 deaths have been recorded so far, only 1.4 / 100 thousand, and the EKPA professor credits these data to the government, which with an honest and convincing approach mobilized citizens, to respect the strict. confinement

The Greeks showed stoicism

Faced with the economic collapse in Europe and in other parts of the world, many Greeks have shown stoicism, taking lessons from the past decade, when the country lost a quarter of its economy. According to the latest forecast data, the Greek economy will shrink 9.7% this year, the worst recession in the European Union.

Then, the article quotes the testimony of a health worker who experienced the crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, when it took three years to rebuild her business, but also the subsequent crisis that affected Greece. when he was forced to be out of a job for another three years. Madam the. Apostolidis, who in addition to his 15-year-old son cares for his parents and several relatives, says that, strangely, he was optimistic when this new adversity appeared. “We have been through a lot, we have tightened up, so I think we can rebuild ourselves; we thought we had gone bad before the budget crisis, but now we see that we are adjusting,” he said.

The article is accompanied at the top by a large photograph from the point of view of the Syntagma Square permit last March, with the caption: “Greece set an excellent example in the fight against the pandemic.”