Facing the pandemic in surreal Belarus
A. Pashkevich
A. Pashkevich is a pseudonym to protect the security of the blogger. She is a consultant in Minsk.
Belarus is a country that has always felt surreal to me. Since the Soviet times, when people were supposed to follow certain rules publicly and then gathered in the kitchen to “talk real stuff,” Belarus has had parallel lives. We could only be ourselves when surrounded by those we trusted. This suspiciousness and mistrust of double realities have become part of our Soviet heritage. Solidarity is something that we are only starting to build here — in the circles of like-minded people. Many things have to change, and not just because of the coronavirus. The upcoming elections on August 9 may offer some hope. Belarus is not a simple country to live in, so keep that in mind when you read this blog on how our government dealt with the pandemic.
When the coronavirus outbreak spread in Europe in March, governments began to lockdown but Belarus took a controversial approach. The borders remained open and the government didn’t impose any restrictions. Factories, stores, schools, cultural and sporting events were kept open. President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, sort of downplayed the threat of COVID19. “I don’t see any virus here,” he continuously repeated during the meetings with ministers or when playing hockey. He called the pandemic a psychosis.
Now Lukashenko claims he tested positive for COVID19, but he’s asymptomatic and going to walk it off. It’s hard for Belarusians to believe anything he says. But should it be true, with his tight schedule and numerous meetings with factory workers and others, how many people could he have infected? And guess how many times the media showed him wearing a mask? None.
According to the Belarus government’s very dubious statistics, as of July 30, there are 67,518 coronavirus cases in Belarus and 548 deaths. Since the outbreak began, 61,442 people have recovered. The European Union recently cleared a list of nations to enter the union in early June. Belarusians did not make the list. We are probably too much of a risk.
It feels like 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred in the Soviet Union, which Belarus was a part of, and two thirds of our country was contaminated.The reaction of authorities was similar then, keeping the danger secret and pushing people to go out unprotected. The consequences were deadly and tragic. After 34 years, the government continues to lie and dismiss the lives of its own people, now more than nine million.
In late February, the pandemic circled into my life when my return flight from Italy to Belarus was cancelled. Europe had already had cases by then, but no one could imagine everything would go into a frenzy at such an uncontrollable speed. I cancelled my plans and got the refunds I needed, unlike so many others.
I don’t go out much in Minsk, so the pandemic didn’t affect my social life. During the first weeks of the pandemic, people used more caution but many were still out, fairly relaxed and showing no changes in their lifestyle. The elderly did not stay in, either. President Lukashenko said the virus could be treated with 40 grams of vodka daily, two to three visits to the sauna weekly and active physical labor, namely on tractors. He said that he was pleased watching tractor drivers do their jobs in the fields without mentioning anything about COVID19. “Tractors will cure all of us, it is the field that cures!” he said on TV in mid March.
And there were people who did not wait long to follow his advice. In our local grocery store, I remember seeing a drunk couple maybe a little over 50 years old buying more vodka and shouting at the queue, where people stood a meter distance apart from one another, that we were all stupid and vodka was the best cure and preventive measure against corona. When we had more than 900 COVID19 cases registered daily, on warm days I could see groups of both young and middle-aged people picnicking outdoors with spirits and beers.
My circle of people took more cautions. Ironically, a metaphorical distancing has been one of the strategies I had been implementing long before the pandemic in my own life. I left a steady job to become a freelancer. I chose to distance myself from the surreal state structures and play according to my own rules. Now I am a freelance consultant accountable to no-one but myself. I pay with a feeling of instability and the absence of a clear vision for tomorrow. But even Belarusians with seemingly stable jobs don’t have much vision for a future with the government that we have. With the upcoming presidential elections, many people who freely express their negative opinion and anger at the president get fired the next day. Among them have been TV hosts, journalists and even doctors — professionals who need support and encouragement right now.
Some government offices, like the tax office, and private IT companies took measures to protect their employees, yet schools and kindergartens remained open. So tax officers were given more safety and value than teachers.
In my family, I was most worried about my mom and she immediately self-quarantined. My brother and I send her money and order home food delivery, so she can do everything from home. But she’s bored and depressed at home alone. For the elderly, this is a hard thing to bear. But we still prefer not to have any physical encounters with her to minimize risks — her health is more important. The news from the neighbors on the block can be scary. Our next door neighbor died and some others were sick, but since testing was not always available, many did not know what illness they had.
Alternative media reported that many doctors were banned from mentioning COVID19 as the diagnosis or cause of death. The official figures had to “look good” for the authorities.
The government didn’t stop public events, like the Victory Day Parade, fireworks, subbotniks (civil servants doing volunteer work on weekends). Few attended by choice, others were forced to show up.
But the craziest thing happened probably during two religious holidays that we had in the spring. Orthodox and Catholic churches were packed with elderly women and men who went there to celebrate. They didn’t have masks and had no physical distancing. On top of that, they took part in the Holy Communion, sharing the same spoon of wine that symbolizes Christ’s blood. That’s a party for COVID19 contamination for everyone there, but when asked by journalists whether they realized the risks, people said that God would not let them die.
There are initiatives by people in Belarus to do sane things. Many people all around the country still understand that healthcare workers require support nowadays, and not only in the form of applause or FaceBook likes. An initiative called #bycovid19 was formed in the first days of the pandemic that raised money for doctors. They used the money to purchase the necessary protection gear, hot meals, supervise the work of volunteers, assist hospitals, clinics and individuals in need. On Facebook, volunteers mentioned that doctors and nurses cried when receiving free protection gear and medication from them. The official headquarters of the volunteers’ initiative is a private gallery called the Ў Gallery of Contemporary Art. It should have been the Ministry of Health.
The absurdities of life are a daily component of our existence here in Belarus — the government response to the pandemic being yet another example. While the rest of the world hunkers down and tries to save lives by staying in, we are told that everything is under control and facts are a figment of our imagination. Parades and mass events are still organized, educational institutions are open, we see exhibitions and even fashion shows planned and held. People ignorant of the dangers take part in them. Some are already paying with theirs and other people’s lives.
But the voices of dissent haven’t died completely. The negligent strategy chosen by authorities toward the country’s health became one more important trigger for people to openly protest against the dictator. In the upcoming election, the leading opposition candidate is a woman, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who joined the race after Lukashenko arrested her husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the original candidate against him. Viktar Babaryka, another candidate, was also jailed, and one more candidate Valery Tsepkalo left Belarus with his kids fearful of repression.
Declaring Belarus to be “a country for people” and himself “a people’s president,” Lukashenko has clearly shown that the lives and health of his people had no value. The only thing he really cared about was his own image as a strong leader. On Victory Day on May 9, with peaking COVID19 cases, Minsk streets were full of military parades with tanks and WWII veterans decorated in carnations and no masks. I wonder how many of those veterans survived this summer.
One of the most shocking things I came across since the pandemic is an article I read about Tatiana Nevirkovets, a 36-year-old kindergarten principal, who was intubated for a week before dying of pneumonia that resulted from COVID-19. I looked at her beautiful, smiling picture. Would she be alive now if her kindergarten in Gomel had been closed? If she had just refused to go to work and limit contacts with kids and parents? What if state media did not present pandemic information with messages of “it’s going to be fine,” encouraging dangerous behavior. There won’t be any accountability for her death.
It’s like a flashback sometimes of how history can so brutally repeat itself with few or no lessons learned. Victory Day parades were also held in spring 1986, after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station. People were also unaware of the dangerous chemical substances they were exposed to staying outdoors. They took part in parades, walked in parks, not knowing that a deadly substance was contaminating them. Many died of cancer or other fatal diseases caused by radiation, but we don’t know exactly how many. And will we ever know how many died of COVID19 in Belarus during this pandemic?
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