Russia has entered the most acute stage of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the voices of skeptics who until recently loudly expressed doubts about the nature of the disease and its very existence are now barely audible. But they did not shut up completely – and for good reason.
Around the coronavirus there is a whole range of circumstances that make us look for a hidden background in them. In general, expanse for conspiracy theorists of all stripes. But even many absolutely sober-minded citizens who are not inclined to invent secret meanings cannot fail to notice the strangeness of the current situation.
So what’s wrong with COVID-19?
It’s worth starting with the fact that this is far from the first case in our memory when a disease has become an important part of the global political and information agenda. Over the past two decades, there have been at least three epidemic outbreaks that triggered a grandiose planetary hype: SARS in 2003, bird flu in the mid-2000s and swine flu in 2009. Moreover, if the first two were mainly Asian history, and the rest of the world panicked for the company, then with swine flu everything was much larger.
Many people from personal experience can confirm that the flu was especially rampant during that season. Everyone around was hurt en masse and very hard, but most, of course, did not check which form of ARVI they had.
This was accompanied by a completely wild media hysteria, and on a global scale. Swine flu has been a major topic in all media. News releases then resembled reports of hostilities with a constant update of the numbers of sick and dead across the world. At the same time, no radical anti-epidemiological measures were taken by the states.
I must admit that the final official figures of that epidemic are really not impressive (especially in the light of current events): less than 19 thousand who died of influenza, according to an official WHO estimate. True, a few years later the results of a scientific study were presented, according to which in fact the H1N1 virus claimed the lives of more than 200 thousand people.
In general, it’s clear that the matter is dark, but the impression that those events were more of a global media and political campaign, due to someone’s selfish interests, and not concern for people’s health, has developed among many.
And this is far from the only example of this kind – which openly contradicts our stereotypes. States usually play down the danger, as was the case, for example, with the Spanish flu a hundred years ago, when many countries hid and denied the epidemic until the last, because they feared the negative military-political consequences of the world war. By the way, the outbreak of smallpox in Moscow so often mentioned these days in 1959-60 was also covered by the most severe measures of secrecy.
Immediately almost all the states of the planet, including leading world powers, were immediately imbued with the danger of COVID-19 and rushed to take unprecedented anti-epidemiological measures that guarantee a severe blow to global and national economies.
Let’s be honest: the last decades of the state were not seen in a special altruism in relation to their citizens. On the contrary, the social sphere is ruthlessly cut almost everywhere, the notorious optimization of health care has covered almost all countries. Actually, current events have given a clear idea that Russia in this sense is doing pretty well compared to what the most developed Western powers have optimized for themselves.
If desired, the state can be blamed for inhumanity and cannibalism, but they really do not act from a good life. The resources to support the grandiose social system that we inherited from the 20th century are physically scarce anymore – neither in Europe, nor overseas, nor here. As a result, almost all countries have for many years consistently sacrificed social programs for the sake of the economy and its growth.
And suddenly we observe an amazing phenomenon, as states (even the most rigid capitalist ones like the USA) have radically changed priorities, and they derail their own economies for the sake of human health. The absurdity added that the “white crows” in the harmonious quarantine ranks were two countries that for many years have been icons of socialism and concern for the welfare of man – Sweden and Belarus.
And economies are really consciously sacrificed. Small and medium-sized businesses all over the world – and not only in Russia – are horrified.
Millions (or rather, billions) of people living from paycheck to paycheck and without savings have lost not only their jobs, but also the very possibility of earning, and are in despair and shock. In the United States, unemployment is breaking all possible records. Other countries are a little easier.
And all these frightening predictions are accompanied by a common leitmotif – “because of the coronavirus pandemic.”
There is only one small “but”: countless experts, including the most respected and renowned for their insight, wrote about the inevitability of a grave economic crisis in 2020 – right up to the collapse of the world economy. And a few months ago, statistics began to record a decline in many of the most important economic indicators.
So such a painstaking transfer of guilt for the coming economic horror to COVID-19 creates a clear resemblance to the current situation with the fire in the warehouse, which is designed to cover up the machinations of storekeepers.
But for ordinary people, who once again fell into the millstones of history, another question is more relevant and relevant: what should they, us and you, do in this situation?
The answer to it is generally simple.
The disease actually is – and it is really dangerous for human health and life. The epidemic is not fiction either. And, therefore, the most reasonable at the moment is to carefully observe the measures of self-isolation and safety, because when the restrictions are lifted, you will need your loved ones and yourself as healthy as possible.
However, I would like to hope that this time the planetary systemic crisis will affect Russia less than in the past. We have not lived in vain in recent years and have really strengthened the possibilities of our own autonomous existence. Yes, and the state’s actions leave no doubt that it is preparing to meet the coming storm fully armed and with maximum hatred hatches.
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