The corrupt Lebanese government put the country in lockdown to flatten the “revolution”. As a result of the worsening economic situation, many healthcare workers were laid off and now the Lebanese people are paying for it by being denied access to care. 1/n https://twitter.com/firassabiad/status/1353414750470696963

Here’s what would reduce mortality in #Lebanon:
1) protecting the vulnerable
2) increasing healthcare capacity
3) supporting healthcare workers

All impossible to do in a country that is gasping for dear life. 2/n

And yet the #Lebanese people are being blamed for not following guidelines and not following the rules.
The Lebanese people are not to blame. Wearing masks, social distancing, lockdowns and stupid curfews don’t do anything. 3/n

It is those politicians who transferred their money to Swiss accounts, while #Lebanese citizens can no longer transfer university fees for their children studying abroad, who are to blame.
Stop shifting the blame to the people. 4/n

Public health practitioners like @firassabiad and @petra who have bought blindly into the narrative are reinforcing this displaced scapegoating.
Please be aware of the harm of supporting the government’s narrative. 5/n

The Lebanese people are now dying not because they were not obedient enough but because the corrupt politicians have stripped Lebanon of any hope of standing on its feet. They have shattered the economy and devalued the Lebanese currency. They have left #Lebanon on life support.

Decimated economies lead to weakened healthcare system.

Weakened healthcare systems cannot deal with an annihilating #beirutexplosion and cannot deal
with a respiratory virus. 7/n

If only the #Lebanese soil could speak, it would scream enough is enough.
Get those politicians out of office.
They continue to rape the country without remorse. 8/n

The Lebanese people are very resourceful and perseverant people. Civil society has always come through to save the day whenever the government has failed. I trust that they will rise for the challenge in this dire state like they have many times before. Or at least, I pray. 9/9

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