500,000 Russian School-age Children have Been Infected by Coronavirus, Moscow Officials Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 28 – As Russian children are set to return to school, Moscow officials say that over the last 18 months some 500,000 Russians in that age group have been infected by the coronavirus. They say preventing the further spread of the virus among pupils is a priority but won’t block unvaccinated pupils or teachers from attending (regnum.ru/news/3355938.html, regnum.ru/news/3355948.html and regnum.ru/news/3355920.html).

            As the pandemic continues to ebb and flow across the country, Russian officials reported registering 19,492 new cases of infection and 799 new deaths from the coronavirus over the last 24 hours (regnum.ru/news/society/3352534.html and t.me/stopcoronavirusrussia/5689). But Russian media focused its attention on figures released  yesterday.

            Those figures released after the usual news cycle to suppress coverage showed that since the pandemic began, Russia has suffered 596,000 excess deaths, and that has sparked discussions about whether the authorities are falsifying data when they issue daily figures that suggest a much lower level (themoscowtimes.com/2021/08/27/russias-excess-death-toll-hits-600k-a74920).

            One Moscow blogger, for instance, suggests that the real figures for coronavirus infections in Russia are 29 million and not the six million that the Russian government says. If deaths track infections, that  would mean that covid deaths are six times what officials are saying (mariuver.com/2021/08/27/covid-zanizh-5-raz/ and finanz.ru/novosti/aktsii/rosstat-zafiksiroval-rekordnuyu-kovidnuyu-smertnost-v-rossii-1030764637).

            Meanwhile, one expert has suggested that those who do get the vaccine may suffer from delayed side effects long after they have received their shots (ura.news/news/1052501960); and another has noted that immunity after infection is greater than immunity after vaccinations (regnum.ru/news/3355886.html).

            Both these observations are likely to discourage some as yet unvaccinated Russians from seeking the vaccinations and keep Russia’s overall vaccination rate low.