Ukraine Covid-19 Update
Infection rates soar as kids get ready to return to school
The results are in: Ukraine’s response to the COVID-19 has failed. Miserably. Looking on the bright side, it’s not as if anyone expected competency from state officials or success in mitigating the spread of the disease.
Historians who look back at the mess years from now will note that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky early on expressed confidence in his government’s ability to avoid unnecessary deaths.
Past is Prologue
At the beginning of the outbreak, Ukraine had a chance to contain the novel virus by identifying each person bringing the infection into the country and stopping it before it spread in the community.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told us not to worry on January 31.
Alas, Ze!Team did nothing to prepare for the pandemic in February and March.
There was no individual-level containment, which would have had minimal effect on the economy. Instead, Illia Yemets, a corrupt hack from the era of disgraced former President Viktor Yanukovych, was installed as Health Minister. He said the country’s limited medical resources shouldn’t be wasted on people over the age of 65.
Yemets was sacked after members of Ukraine’s jet set brought the virus back to Ukraine from European ski resorts. Germy priests co-mingled with hundreds of thousands of returning migrant workers and exacerbated the situation. All regions have since seen a steady increase in cases.
The idea that that restrictions imposed in March could be lifted after hospitals were re-equipped has been abandoned. Ze!Team in April gave up on a policy of sufficient testing and contact tracing altogether, opting for a policy of harm reduction, the success of which will likely depend on the unpredictable zeal of the nation’s vertically-integrated 300,000+ police force to delouse infected establishments and their owners.