Vladimir Putin has freed Russians from their coronavirus lockdown. But that liberation has only added to their confusion over the dangers of COVID-19, writes Chris Brown.
Vladimir Putin has liberated his nation from its six-week coronavirus lockdown, but many Russians appear unsure what that means or if it’s even prudent to exercise their newfound freedoms given that the country likely hasn’t hit a peak in infections.
“I don’t know what to think,” Christa Ivanovo told CBC on her way to the grocery store in Moscow, her one-year-old in tow.
“If the rest of the world is under strict isolation … it makes sense we should [continue], too.” Out of an abundance of caution, Ivanovo plans to maintain the self-isolation regime Muscovites have been living under for the past month and a half.
“I’m waiting to see what happens next week.”
With Russia’s economy crushed by the combination of COVID-19 shutdowns and record-low oil prices, Putin’s patience with the lockdown appeared to run out last week.
He unexpectedly announced an end to Russia’s national “non-working days” and said workers in construction, manufacturing and other industries should head back to work as soon as possible.
The costs of quarantine
While in theory Putin left it to regional authorities to make the final call on ending lockdowns, by the end of the week the return of heavier traffic to Moscow indicated the president’s directive was having an effect.
Russia’s top-tier soccer league has announced plans to restart in a month’s time, albeit with no fans in attendance. The country’s largest budget airline, Pobeda, said it would soon start flying again and the national transportation agency says international arrivals could start landing at Russian airports by July.
“If this so-called quarantine continued, the need for financial support would quickly rise, because it’s a very long time for people not to be working,” said Moscow political scientist Gleb Pavlovsky, by way of explanation for Putin’s thinking. “But this way, he solves several problems.”
Worryingly, however, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia has now exceeded 280,000 — second in the world only to the United States. While the number of new infections appears to have levelled off, new cases have still been increasing by 9000-10,000