COVID-19 in Central and Eastern Europe

• Published in: European journal of public health Vol. 31; no. Supplement_3
• Main Authors: King, E, Loblova, O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 20.10.2021; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Autocracy; Clinical trials; Containment; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Fatalities; Health care; Immunization; Information flow; Pandemics; Population density; Public health; Spring; Tourism; Tuberculosis; Vaccines; Viral diseases; Viruses; Eastern Europe; Europe; Russia
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.679

Issue Countries of central and eastern Europe (CEE) are rarely accustomed to praise when compared to their western European neighbors. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, as core European countries such as Italy, Spain, or the United Kingdom reported hundreds of confirmed cases and even deaths per day, all CEE countries managed to contain the disease with considerably lower rates of infection and deaths. Description This changed in late summer and fall of 2020, when many CEE countries overtook western Europe in the number of new COVID-19 cases, as well as deaths, per population, but for a few months the region could enjoy its unusual accomplishment. A number of hypotheses have been suggested to explain the surprising containment success in the spring, including the widespread prevalence of the bacille Calmette-Guérin tuberculosis vaccine, lower population density and exposure to tourism, lack of trust in the healthcare system and government in general, low testing numbers (which may have led to underreporting of cases), and an autocratic advantage leaders of imperfect democracies, such as in CEE, enjoy when imposing lockdowns and other restrictive policies. Results In the spring, CEE governments implemented strict measures to protect public health at a time when their countries had few COVID-19 cases and deaths at most in the single digits. Lessons The Russian approach to addressing COVID-19 reflects the messiness of classifying “regime type.” Some of the responses used were more authoritarian in their approach. A greater flow of information and more transparency in the data would allow a more complete assessment of Russia's response to COVID-19. Main messages Creating a “virus of silence,” short- cutting global standards for vaccine clinical trials, and not providing disaggregated and timely data make it difficult to evaluate the reasons for Russia's relatively low case count and low fatality rate.