When the COVID-19 pandemic started, the Ukrainian government did OK: It introduced quarantine early on, when the country had just a handful of cases. It was an example of smart vision and responsible leadership. And it has seldom happened since.
The government’s big problem is that it is still operating in the dark, partly because testing has lagged, making it impossible to understand the severity of the spread of the virus. The hopeful start gave way to a multitude of contradictory and controversial statements, messy decisions and confusing communication.
We are now used to hearing vital information about the course of the pandemic from a choir of voices that aren’t in tune with one another. Take the long-anticipated easing of the quarantine measures that started on May 12. Or was it May 11? We don’t know, because the government and city mayors have been citing different dates. Businesses ended up arbitrarily picking the opening date.
The date wasn’t the only problem. When the Cabinet of Ministers announced which restrictions would be eased, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the rollback separately, naming a slightly different list of measures. For several days, the capital lived in confusion: Will the shopping malls and museums open, like the Cabinet said? (In Kyiv, they didn’t.) One of the largest shopping malls in Kyiv, DreamTown, announced on May 7 that it will open, only to retract the statement an hour later.
The planning is so messy that, just two days into the new stage of quarantine, the government amended it, adding two slight changes: allowing groups of eight people in the streets and changing the number of people who can occupy the same table at an outdoor cafe from two to four. Why the hasty change was needed is a mystery. But we are past the point of being surprised. We now expect new changes daily. After all, top officials regularly make clashing statements, sometimes contradicting each other within 24 hours.
And as if this mess wasn’t enough, the government is now confessing that some of the measures that were just lifted were never needed. Deputy Health Minister Viktor Lyashko, who has been the government’s voice for the pandemic response, said that closing parks and disinfecting streets had no actual effect on the spread of the virus. It was done, he said, simply to scare people into taking the threat seriously, “to cause anxiety.”
As if we didn’t have enough anxiety from knowing we are being led through a global pandemic by a bunch of stumbling fools. Because what, if not stupidity, would make the government reveal that it introduced fake measures while quarantine is ongoing and other real measures are in place?
Fortunately, since the whole world is in the same situation, Ukrainians can look abroad to find the right cues. But the inconsistency and loose tongues put us all in danger.
Many officials seeking to advance their political careers should do the right thing: stay silent.
