Moscow’s Spin on Rising Coronavirus Numbers: It's Evidence of Increased Economic and Social Activity

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 12 – Moscow has come up with a response to those worried about rising coronavirus infections and deaths: officials and politicians are now saying that this isn’t something to be viewed as “negative news” but rather as positive because it shows that the economy is coming back and social activity is recovering.

            Such people, like Duma deputy Nikolay Govorin and TV doctor Aleksandr Myasnikov, cite epidemiologists who say that whenever a population comes out of a pandemic, there will be an uptick in numbers. And that is how Russians should respond to the latest reports, they suggest (versia.ru/v-rossii-za-sutki-zaregistrirovano-5488-novyx-sluchaev-zarazheniya-i-119-letalnyx-isxodov and regnum.ru/news/3061173.html).

            As has been the case for the last week, the numbers are up. Moscow officially registered 5488 new cases of infection and 119 deaths from the coronavirus over the last 24 hours, bringing thoses totals to 1,057,362 and 18,484 respectively (t.me/COVID2019_official/1481). Officials also said that there have been 40 million coronavirus tests in Russia (kp.ru/online/news/4010622/).

            Because it is the weekend, there have been fewer reports about the situation from beyond the ring road, but what reports there are suggest that the pandemic is continuing in many places, remaining more or less at the same level in most and significantly rising in others, including most prominently in St. Petersburg (regnum.ru/news/society/3057754.html).

            Schools are becoming super spreader places, and that trend is likely going to become worse now Moscow officials have prohibitted schools from requiring their pupils to wear facemasks while in class (znak.com/2020-09-12/v_rospotrebnadzore_zayavili_chto_shkoly_ne_vprave_trebovat_ot_uchenikov_nosheniya_masok).

            The Moscow media trumpeted the fact that the first batches of the Sputnik-5 vaccine are now going to the regions (novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/09/12/164228-minzdrav-pervaya-partiya-vaktsiny-ot-koronavirusa-otpravili-v-regiony, snob.ru/news/regiony-poluchat-pervye-partii-vakciny-ot-covid-19-sputnik-v-do-14-sentyabrya/ and capost.media/news/obshchestvo/protivokoronavirusnyy-sputnik-v-napravili-v-regiony/).

            Moscow officials today also took two steps to try to reduce anti-vaxxer attitudes. On the one hand, they surveyed a number of leading opinion makers who in the main said they had been vaccinated in the past and would do so in the future to protect themselves and their children (kommersant.ru/doc/4490923?from=main_4).

            And on the other, they released new details about the ways in which doctors will be monitoring those who get the vaccine in the near future because they will still be part of the phase three testing that is normally required before any vaccine can be released for the general population (echo.msk.ru/blog/covid2019_official/2707917-echo/).