The Commissioner for Human Rights addresses the minister of health regarding the pandemic situation

Marcin Wiącek asked the minister of health to refer to the epidemic situation and information about the ministry's plans in a letter dated July 21, although the same morning the minister spoke about his own assessment of the summer wave of COVID-19 during a press conference on the same day. Perhaps the Commissioner for Human Rights considered this information incomplete and insufficient, similarly to a significant number of commenting experts, because the issues that the Defender puts forward for consideration go beyond what the journalists heard from Adam Niedzielski.

The minister said, for example, that the Ministry of Health was monitoring the situation in twelve European countries, including Germany. The Commissioner for Human Rights points out that there, in view of the increase in the incidence, the situation becomes more and more difficult. - There are cases in which medical facilities begin to lack staff, or scheduled procedures are postponed. This creates noticeable problems for hospitals that find it increasingly difficult to ensure that their patients are properly cared for. All age groups have been affected by the increase in infections, especially the elderly, children and adolescents. The number of outbreaks of infections in nursing homes for seniors has also increased significantly - he emphasizes in his speech.

The Ombudsman points out that the mere fact that in most EU countries, where extensive testing has not stopped, there are massive infections, which, in addition, are increasing rapidly, can create a sense of danger in the public. - The next wave of COVID-19 in Poland may be evidenced by, for example, reports of a very clear increase in virus concentrations in wastewater in Poznań - this means that there are more and more patients. Concentration levels are similar to those from the end of December 2021. The scale of infections is comparable to what was recorded at that time, ie over 10,000 cases a day - reminds Marcin Wiącek.

In this situation, it would be extremely important to learn, and in justified cases, disseminate among the general public, the position of the Ministry of Health on the following issues:

- perception of COVID-19 as an important problem and its impact on the state's health policy,

- methods of monitoring the scale of infection on COVID-19 - due to the fact that extensive testing for COVID-19 has been abandoned, the scale of COVID-19 infections may raise doubts and remain unknown,

- the plan and activities of the Ministry of Health to date in connection with reports of the next wave of COVID-19.