COVID Infections Again on the Rise in Russia

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 12 – With the start of the school year, COVID infections are again on the rise in Russia as in many other countries, with more than 8,000 new infections and eight deaths in the city of Moscow alone last week. Experts expect this wave to peak in a month or two but prove far less widespread and lethal than was the case three and four years ago.

            A major problem in both the diagnosis and treatment of COVID now, Russian health specialists say, is that the symptoms are so varied and often so mild that many cases are misdiagnosed as something else and that new vaccinations may not work because the virus is mutating so quickly (svpressa.ru/society/article/429221/).

            Many of the vaccine boosters now being offered, Russian officials say, protect people against only a few of the strains out there. That message will likely keep many Russians from seeking the vaccine, just as was the case three and four years ago, and mean that there is a risk that the growth in the number of COVID cases could be far larger in Russia than elsewhere.

            The Moscow specialists insist that there is no chance that the number of new cases will rise to the level of 200,000 a day as was true in 2020; but if Russians don’t get vaccinated and do not adopt healthy practices like washing their hands frequently and getting enough sleep, there is a real danger of an epidemic in Russia that could fuel the rise of COVID elsewhere.