Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 18 – Total infections in
Russia rose to more than 290,000 today, although officials celebrated that the
number had grown by slightly less than the daily average since May 1 and
professed to see a flattening of the curve or even a turning point in the
battle with the coronavirus (novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/05/18/161547-chislo-novyh-zabolevshih-koronavirusom-vpervye-s-kontsa-aprelya-okazalos-menshe-9-tysyach, graniru.org/Society/Health/m.278941.html
and forum-msk.org/material/news/16456265.html).
But faith in any improvement was
called into question by the government’s ever more widespread use of its police
power to go after anyone who challenges its figures or complains about the
failures of the Russian medical system publicly (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/05/18/85415-molchanie-ili-ugolovka,
echo.msk.ru/news/2644749-echo.html,
kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/349745/,
kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/349743/
and severreal.org/a/30613609.html).
But despite such intimidation, ever
more doctors and ordinary Russians reported just how bad conditions are in
Russian health care and the fight against the coronavirus. Bonuses promised
medical personnel are not getting to them, something even the government has
acknowledged (govoritmagadan.ru/pravitelstvo-priznalo-chto-meshalo-vyplate-putinskih-deneg-vracham/
and newizv.ru/news/society/18-05-2020/minzdrav-ob-yasnil-poryadok-vyplat-medikam-za-rabotu-s-bolnymi-koronavirusom).
More than 2,000 doctors and nurses
in Moscow alone have come down with the infection, often because they did not
have necessary protective devices (novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/05/18/161542-v-podmoskovie-zarazilis-dve-tysyachi-medikov-rabotayuschie-s-koronavirusnymi-patsientami
and echo.msk.ru/blog/erjankov_s/2644647-echo/).
Confusion reigned as 27 regions
reduced restrictions in various ways and officials argued among themselves in
public over whether masks help or hurt, made people stand close together in
line to check for the virus and warehoused
people in hospitals without equipment, heart, plumbing or personnel (rosbalt.ru/russia/2020/05/18/1843889.html,
snob.ru/health/novosti-covid-19-v-moskve-priostanovili-programmu-moya-ulica-uchenye-na-homyakah-dokazali-effektivnost-masok-protiv-koronavirusa/.
newizv.ru/news/city/18-05-2020/ocheredi-vystroilis-u-bolnits-moskvy-chtoby-sdat-test-na-antitela-k-koronavirusu, newizv.ru/news/city/18-05-2020/ocheredi-vystroilis-u-bolnits-moskvy-chtoby-sdat-test-na-antitela-k-koronavirusu
and severreal.org/a/30617350.html).
News on the pandemic-related
economic front was uniformly bad. Ever more sectors are projected permanent job
losses even when the pandemic passes (profile.ru/economy/unesennye-virusom-kogo-karantin-ostavit-bez-raboty-308655/),
small and mid-sized businesses have lost any hope that the Kremlin will help
them and face losses and closures (rbc.ru/business/18/05/2020/5ec0e48b9a79476c0568bd13),
banks are refusing to make loans to them and to individuals despite official
promises that they would (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76409),
and Academician Robert Nigmatulin says Russia will come out of the crisis
far further behind than it went into it (krizis-kopilka.ru/archives/76402).
And
in case these news items weren’t enough, ever more Russian specialists say the
controls the regime put in place in the name of fighting the coronavirus will
remain in place after the pandemic to fight political and social opposition and
unrest (russian.eurasianet.org/россия-какие-инструменты-надзора-за-населением-останутся-после-коронавируса).
Meanwhile, there was a slew of other
pandemic stories coming out of Russia:
·
The
defense ministry flew soldiers to a gold mine near Krasnoyarsk to ensure that
production was maintained after most of the workers there became infected with
the coronavirus (novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/05/18/161544-minoborony-perebrosilo-voennyh-na-sever-krasnoyarskogo-kraya-iz-za-vspyshki-na-zolotorudnom-mestorozhdenii).
·
Russia’s
Sberbank has set up its own daughter company to produce and market any vaccine
that may become available to counter the coronavirus (snob.ru/health/novosti-covid-19-sberbank-sozdal-kompaniyu-dlya-proizvodstva-vakciny-ot-virusa-vlasti-shotlandii-reshili-profinansirovat-organizacii-podderzhivayushie-seks-rabotnic/).
·
Ismail
Berdiyev, the mufti of Karachayevo-Cherkessia and head of the North Caucasus
super-MSD, has been hospitalized with the coronavirus (kommersant.ru/doc/4347799).
·
Alcohol
stores in Urals are closing because one-fifth of sales personnel now are
infected( ura.news/news/1052432177).
·
The
defense ministry is making money from erecting temporary hospitals to fight the
pandemic even when the beds in them are not used to treat victims (newizv.ru/news/society/18-05-2020/komu-nuzhny-vremennye-gospitali-v-moskve-chinovnikam-ili-bolnym).
·
Many
Buryats studying at a military academy returned home infected with the
coronavirus, which they apparently contracted while students there (baikal-daily.ru/news/20/390620/).
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