“It hasn’t reached us yet”: Governor’s adviser on the situation with Covid in Prikamye

Incidence statistics in Russia, and especially in Moscow, are growing multiples every day. According to Dmitry Zhebelev, a freelance adviser to the governor on social issues, the incidence will soon reach the Perm Territory, but the situation will be calmer than in the capital. This is influenced by a number of factors: increased testing coverage, statistics of the residents themselves on requests on the Internet and hospitalization rates. Gradually, the number of hospitalized in the region is decreasing and is within 500-600 people. Dmitry Zhebelev told RBC Perm about coronavirus infections in Moscow and the subsequent spread throughout Russia.

“As in previous periods, more than half of all cases are Moscow. If something changes in Moscow, it is reflected in the indicators throughout Russia very seriously. It has not reached us yet, as it was in the spring and autumn of last year," Zhebelev explained.

The day before, the regional operational headquarters lifted covid restrictions for the celebration of Russia Day in the Perm Territory. The freelance adviser to the governor does not see a threat to the population in the actions of the authorities. In his opinion, outdoor activities, subject to minimum security measures, are unlikely to seriously affect the spread of the disease. https://perm.rbc.ru/perm/freenews/60c1b5f69a7947af78babcb9

“In fact, as scientists say, it is safe. On the street, how many people would not have gathered, especially if they follow the minimum security measures in terms of distance and masks. It is unlikely that this can somehow seriously affect the spread of diseases, ”said a freelance adviser to the governor of the Kama region.

According to the expert, a much more serious threat is posed by new strains of coronavirus that are now spreading in the region. Last year, according to Dmitry Zhebelev, the incidence seasonally declined due to a decrease in social contacts. The incidence decreased when students and schoolchildren finished their studies, and the working population had vacation. But this year, due to the importation of strains, this will not be enough. And we should expect a significant increase. The only way out is vaccination, but it is not going at the pace that the authorities expect. By the end of autumn 2021, the head of the region set the task of vaccinating more than a million residents of the region. In fact, so far only about 200 thousand people. There are several reasons for the phenomenon: from deceived expectations associated with the delay in the supply of the vaccine and ending with distrust of the authorities.

“The federal information agenda, where, in general, the topic of vaccination is politicized, where it is tied to trust in the state. I don’t know how much our people actually trust the authorities, we will be able to check this in the next elections, but in terms of taking care of their health, about their lives, apparently they don’t trust them very much. And when you link it directly with the authority of the authorities, it doesn’t seem to work very well,” Dmitry Zhebelev stressed.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, over the past day alone, more than a quarter of new cases of COVID-19in the Perm Territory, these are children and young people under 30 years old. Why the death rate now mainly falls on the able-bodied population, the expert found it difficult to answer, but he compared us with other regions. According to Zhebelev, the Perm region is "the least worst" in terms of excess mortality among other regions.

According to the Ministry of Health, more than 1,000 ventilators are currently operating in the region's hospitals. Half of them are in covid wards. A reasonable question arises about the relevance of the equipment after the end of the pandemic, because the cost of one device is about 6 million rubles. The expert told RBC Perm that earlier the Perm Territory had a serious shortage of devices.

“We have estimated that such a number of ventilators in the Perm Territory is not enough even to work according to standards, primarily in terms of wear and tear. All the equipment purchased in the Kama region will be useful even when the epidemic is over. Before that, we had a serious shortcoming both in the number of ventilators and especially in their condition, many simply exhausted their resource, ”said Zhebelev.