There is no excavator left that Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has taken a picture with. Prof. Daniel Valchev, Dean of the Law Faculty of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, told BTV. "How urgent was the Prime Minister's trip to a highway?" He asked, commenting on restrictive measures in relation to the coronavirus epidemic.
The lawyer congratulated the police officers who had been reacting correctly at the checkpoints, but objected to the rebirth of the well-known militia style, an example of which is the column of "urgent measures" in the declaration. According to him, if all people in the risk group, adults and those with accompanying diseases become ill with Covid – 19, they must respect social exclusion but the young and healthy should be "on the street and working".
Daniel Vulchev emphasized that restriction of fundamental rights, such as the right of movement, can be executed by law and in no case by an order. Even more – by one which says “until further notice”.
According to him, there are at least four groups of questions which the public does not receive a clear answer to.
First of all, it has not been distinct who takes the decisions in Bulgaria for the last month and a half. The headquarters cannot decide because it has been appointed by the prime minister to advise him. The decisions are taken by the government. If matters turn good, then it will be a winner, if they are not good, it will be responsible, said Prof. Vulchev.
The second question refers to whether we know what's going on? There has been a debate for a long time about the success of different tests and people are completely disoriented. "You have to know what stands against you in order to win. From some half-shamanic statements I learn that there is a terrible invisible enemy against us. But this tells me nothing. We are currently drawing conclusions that are of no statistical value. What does it mean that 50 people are infected – does it mean that 50 people went to hospital? We don't do random tests," he said.
Third, we are told to safe-isolate and we do, but we must be told in the name of what. "If it is true that sooner or later we will all catch the coronavirus, then what exactly are we doing now? Can anyone tell me precisely what the capacity of the Bulgarian health care system is, because I can’t get it from the Headquarters statements?” Prof. Vulchev asked.
According to data from the BG National Statistical Institute, there are 30,000 doctors, 346 hospitals, and 53,000 beds while authorities say that 40 infected a day present a problem, 80 infected – a disaster. "Well, can this system collapse because of 250 people hospitalized with K-19, 40 of whom in resuscitation and more patients cannot be checked in?! And if we are waging a war, will we surrender to the first 50 wounded?” he asked rhetorically. He went on: "Well, if a bus crashes and there are 40 or 80 injured, what do we do, can't the system take them? Capacity is low, but if it is low, why do we give over BGN 4 billion a year for healthcare? The Bulgarian healthcare system needs very serious monitoring,” the former Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
Prof. Daniel Vulchev presented more data – for the last year 108 000 Bulgarians have died or 290 a day and nobody is worried about that. And fifty died from Covid-19 in two months and we closed the whole country …
Fourth, I cannot help but admit that the measures were adopted on time, well then, what happens next? "I can't believe that in the air or in open spaces people get infected more. I heard from the Headquarters that it would be a big problem if people gather in parks to drink beer. This shows to what extent we have degraded – we are not concerned that people drink, but that they drink during a pandemic. If you drink in Central Park in New York, for example, you will be arrested in the tenth minute,” Prof. Vulchev said.
In his words our society suffers a deadly virus, our society is not doing well. We need a very serious adjustment of values. "It seems we are used to the fact that the size and extras of your car can make you immortal. You can have 10 Bentleys and you nevertheless die. These things need to be discussed,” Prof. Daniel Vulchev said.
