Mar 20 2020
Belarus is a landlocked country of 10 million people, bordering Poland to the West, Russia, Lithuania and Latvia to the North, Ukraine to the South and Russia to the East. It is in the Union State (a loose confederation) with Russia. Its economy is intertwined very tightly with Russia, but the country is independent in any other way.
Belarus happened to be my motherland. I was born and lived here in my early years, and visit frequently. In fact, I spent the last weekend in Belarus for a family reunion to commemorate 2 years since my father’s passing.
The country has several major urban centers, highly educated work force with excellent work ethics, well-developed hi-tech economy, socialized healthcare co-existing with the state-of-the-art private providers, and elected the same President - Alexander Lukashenko - since 1994. The President’s nickname is “Bat’ka”, which means “Dad”. He used to be called “the last dictator in Europe” but relationships with the USA and Europe warmed up to the tune of restoring full diplomatic relations with the USA and recent friendly visit by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The country is very clean and peaceful, with virtually no crime. It offers tax-free status for IT and high-tech businesses relocating or starting in Belarus. It does not require visa for visits up to 7 days. It has a vast number of casinos and lots of entertainment options. It became somewhat a “Las Vegas” type destination for Russians where casinos were out-lawed long time ago. It is also a very inexpensive destination.
Thanks to Bat’ka and well mannered population, the country avoided most of the gross suffering in the years following Soviet Union breakup, where it was one of the 15 republics. Bat’ka made sure that organized crime had no chance for taking roots in the societal structure. There is very little opposition to his rule, because population feels taken care off, while enjoying freedoms found elsewhere. It preserved the safety net and dignity, when it comes to healthcare and many other aspects of life.
That alone causes it to be “an island of common sense” but what it has to do with COVID-19 outbreak? Here are the facts:
It had only around 50 people infected - all coming from abroad;
No-one with confirmed COVID-19 infection died;
The patient zero arrived from Iran just over a month ago. He was immediately identified and all of his 240 contacts were identified and quarantined within 24-hours. The close contacts (>50 people) we hospitalized and tested for COVID-19, even although they were asymptomatic. Only 3 tested positive, others went home;
Belarus tests everyone crossing the boarder from the countries with known outbreaks;
The population is more concerned about dollar exchange rate than infection;
There is no plan for a quarantine at any level;
President Lukashenko stated loud and clear : the economic troubles will create more problems than coronavirus. He considers COVID-19 situation as serious, but calls current world reaction to the epidemics psychotic;
He ordered schools to stay open, because there are no outbreaks, children are less susceptible to the virus, and to protect grandparents which will be left to care for youngsters, if sent home to quarantine. This approach - “quarantine grandparents” is used in some European countries;
Bat’ka, half-jokingly, recommends the following remedies :
Dry sauna 2-3 times per week as virus does not survive temperatures > 60 Celcius;
A shot of vodka daily;
Work to take the mind off epidemics;
The bottom line: what Bat’ka preaches can be described simply as “pragmatism and common sense”