Romanian businessman wants to get infected with COVID-19 to prove authorities wrong

Romanian businessman Viorel Catarama, the owner of a group of companies that produce and sell furniture, is looking to get infected with COVID-19. He said he filed requests in this sense at three hospitals in Bucharest.

Catarama wants to prove that the restrictions imposed by the authorities against COVID-19 are wrong by showing that the infection won’t hurt him.

“We have been infected with fear. Because of fear, we have easily given up our fundamental rights and freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution. The coronavirus will continue to exist after May 15 or June 15,” Viorel Catarama said quoted by Mediafax.

He said that one of the hospitals has already refused his request while the other two haven’t answered yet. “I understand there is no protocol for such a request and that hospitals are supposed to treat people not make them sick. However, I believe they are acting out of fear,” he said.

Viorel Catarama, 65, is married and has four children. He owns furniture producer and retailer Elvila, which had revenues of RON 72 million (EUR 15 mln) and a net profit of RON 3.6 mln (EUR 0.75 mln) in 2019.

Catarama, for many years a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the current ruling party in Romania, left two years ago to set up his own party (the Liberal Right) and ran in the presidential elections last year.

The Romanian authorities have enforced some of the toughest restrictions in the EU to limit the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Official reports show that over 13,500 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Romania so far, based on almost 200,000 processed tests. Over 800 people infected with COVID-19 have died in the country (by May 4).

(Photo source: Viorel Catarama Facebook page)