Factories Are Empty: Large Scale Absence At Work Among Belarusians

The situation is tense in many enterprises.

Undoubtedly, coronavirus infection is a dangerous disease and, of course, everyone has a risk to contract Covid-19 without restrictions and precautions. Omicron seems easier to endure. However, we all see the scale of queues in clinics. There are simply not enough specialists to write out sick leaves. The Ministry of Health is not even trying to lie. When small enterprises go on sick leave, and 100 people a day are registered in large factories every day, it is simply impossible to believe in the figures of the "Ministry of Covid Denial".

For example, about 70 people out of 600 in one of the shops only at the Belarusian Steel Works (BSW) are on sick leave. Queues to the factory clinic are on the street already. The situation is no better at Grodno Azot. The recent information is that about 80 are infected with coronavirus per day. However, the website of the newspaper "Grodno Chemist" brought up a summary that 511 people are on sick leaves, and 163 of them have coronavirus. It is amazing that in recent days the newspaper writes daily infections, not by COVID-19 but ARVI only. There are 65 people per day of new cases of the usual seasonal disease. It seems that Omicron has announced a strike at the enterprises in Belarus. So entire divisions cease to work at small enterprises. Exceptional cases force all the staff to go on sick leave: these are both production facilities and small retail chains.

Meanwhile, authorities use an old practice with a new strategy. Even during the first waves of coronavirus in Belarus, it was customary to diagnose ARVI/ARD. Now, they even abolished dispensary tests in order to ignore the scales of the problem. The work of doctors has become not methodical, but just a guessing game. Once again, a heavy burden and an increased flow of people fell on the shoulders of doctors. The situation becomes even more frightening taking into account a large number of fired specialists.

However, impostors in power, as usual, do not care about people's health. Nobody is going to return facemask requirements. By the way, the requirements lasted only 13 days in Belarus, but ‘covidiots’ do not stop and reach a new low. The latest decision of the authorities was the abolition of safe seating arrangements in theatres due to COVID-19. Back in January, the seating arrangements were in a staggered manner, and now it is as if it was in pre-Covid times.

The situation is also terrible because students were involved in the performance of work due to the lack of specialists. Nevertheless, the snag is that students are not authorised to issue sick leaves and are not responsible for them.

All facts shout about the fact that the epidemic simply did not leave, but it blew up. In any case, the authorities will continue to lie, underestimate statistics, and prohibit diagnosis. However, no one forbids the people of Belarus to carry out coronavirus precautions on their own. For the safety of yourself and your loved ones.

Artem Chernikau, especially for the Basta telegram channel