“Second wave? Lack of rules relaxed too soon”

“I’m against games where you point the finger at those who do better or worse.” Ursula von der Leyen He tried to respond diplomatically about the responsibilities of the new coronavirus emergency in Europe. Also avoiding naming individual member states, the president of the Commission preferred to focus on the plan presented today, on the eve of the video conference between EU leaders, to better coordinate action to combat contagion. But to the umpteenth question from journalists about what went wrong, the German blurted out: “The social distancing measures were relaxed too soon. That is why the second wave exists ”.

The admission came during the first joint press conference between the EU’s executive president and her personal adviser on coronavirus, the Belgian virologist. Peter piot. “In England they say: repair the roof when the sun shines,” explained the doctor with extreme clarity. “We should have done more – he admitted – to track the cases.” Piot does not shy away from taking responsibility and confesses to journalists that he was “too optimistic about the observance of the rules” by the people. But on the other hand, the European Commission has no competence in health matters and many of the recommendations that arrived today in light of the dramatic new data on the infection are nothing more than the repetition of appeals that had already fallen on deaf ears in the first months. of the pandemic.

“We will not know if there will be other waves,” said the president, citing the other epidemics that have historically affected the Old Continent and the rest of humanity. “After the summer,” he recalled, “we have witnessed a new increase, in some cases even exponential” in cases of contagion. “The vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel”, but “it does not change things overnight. “warned the German. And even when there is one safe,” we will have to see the percentage of effectiveness “that, for example,” can reach 75% “.” I think that Christmas this year will be different – said the president – but it all depends on our behavior. “A call shared by the virologist Piot who invoked” a set of measures “that” will only work if we apply them all. ” he argued, “but we have to get to 95%, like in Singapore.”