COVID-19: THE CASE OF GEORGIA

Abstract

In the global fight against COVID-19, some success stories are truly surprising, as are some failures Some of the successful countries are in such volatile regions of the world as the Caucasus Perhaps one of the most surprising success stories in the fight with the novel coronavirus has taken place in the Republic of Georgia In executing its response, its national government has closely followed the advice and suggestions of a triumvirate of specialists composed of a doctor, a public health official, and a specialist in infectious diseases Frequently harassed by its neighbor to the north, Russia, the former Soviet republic is not known for its effective political leadership Quite the contrary, its leadership has often been fractious and disorganized However, in dealing with the current pandemic, they have shown good organization and leadership and have managed to rally the entire country for the cause Two main factors have helped Georgia in this fight In 2011, with the help of the United States, the country opened a new center for public health research named after former U S Senator Richard Lugar The Lugar Center, as it is commonly known, is one of the best laboratories in the world for biomedical and biosafety research This lab has played the leading role in Georgia’s fight against COVID-19 The second factor is an odd organization of the executive branch of the Georgian government Composed entirely by appointed officials, the Georgian executive government members owe their allegiance to an informal group of politicians known as “the ruling team,” headed and sponsored by the chairman of the ruling party While in many other countries the public health officials had to tiptoe around political priorities of the governments, the Georgian was not only tasked with fighting COVID-19 but was also put in the driver’s seat by “the ruling team © 2020, CA and C Press AB All rights reserved