Sobyanin Now Counting Hospitalization to Set Pandemic Restrictions

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 1 – Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin says he uses the level of hospitalizations to set pandemic restrictions. If more than two-thirds of the beds allotted to treatment of covid are full, he increases the restrictions; if fewer, he reduces them (msk.kp.ru/daily/28311.5/4453010/).

            Given that many restrictions have been continued or even raised, that undercuts the upbeat message he has been sending in recent weeks, as do his statement that the pandemic has cost the city more than 600 billion rubles (9 billion US dollars) so far and his recognition Russia can’t control the pandemic as China has (rbc.ru/politics/02/08/2021/61063e549a79471253f7ae6c).

            Russian officials reported registering 22,804 new cases of infection, a decline reflecting a signal fall in infection detection in Moscow over the weekend, but 789 new deaths, still in near record territory, for the past 24 hours as the pandemic continues to spread in many parts of the country (t.me/COVID2019_official/3392  and regnum.ru/news/society/3330437.html).

            As the Duma elections approach, issues surrounding the pandemic are becoming ever more politicized with party leaders and officials seeking to win votes with the positions they take on the coronavirus. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said people should get vaccinated now or face prison if they infect people later (news.rambler.ru/community/46838915-zhirinovskiy-neprivityh-rossiyan-nachnut-sazhat-v-tyurmy/).

            Just Russia Party leader Sergey Mironov said that reports he was against vaccination are false (regnum.ru/news/3334358.html). And several outlets expressed the hope that the voting would bring Russians together to respond to the pandemic in a responsible way (ng.ru/editorial/2021-08-01/2_8213_editorial.html and iarex.ru/articles/81982.html).

            Meanwhile, in other pandemic-related developments in Russia today,

·         Despite their promotion of vaccination for others, neither Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya nor Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov have gotten shots themselves (doshdu.com/v-skfo-do-sih-por-ne-vakcinirovalis-kadyrov-i-kalimatov/).

·         And another Russian Orthodox archpriest has attracted perhaps unwanted attention by suggesting that vaccination shots are like botox rather than medicine (ahilla.ru/protoierej-andrej-tkachev-sravnil-vaktsinatsiyu-ot-kovida-s-ukolami-botoksa/).