COVID-19 и мобилизация медицины на постсоветском пространстве

Abstract

Those social changes that took place in the Spring and Summer of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic were mainly related to information pressures, lockdowns, economic collapses, and, in most cases, to civil and governmental solidarity focusing on the idea to save human lives. The political elites of Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Armenia largely shared European and North American ideas and practices of combatting the pandemic, sometimes successfully using media power and quarantines to solve their political problems. Belarus followed a different path that eventually proved to be costly for its leadership. The second wave turned out to be heavier than the first one: as early as October, hospital beds were typically filled completely. Even in Georgia that managed to cope with the first wave of the epidemic by the early summer, morbidity and mortality set records in November. The article explores political elites, health care management systems, medical teams, and volunteer and community networks in post-Soviet countries reacted to and changed institutionally during the two waves of the pandemic.