Tatarstan consumer protection watchdog on cancellation of mask regime in Udmurtia: ‘We saw what it brought to’

Vice head of the Tatarstan office of Russia’s consumer rights protection watchdog Lyubov Avdonina claimed that at the moment the republic wasn’t contemplating cancelling the mandatory mask regime. According to her, Tatarstan doesn’t have supporters of “quick and not really well-thought-out decisions”.

We should remind you that head of Udmurtia Alexander Brechalov claimed on 9 February that the republic cancelled mandatory mask wearing. The mask regime will lose its force from 12 February in the region and will be only recommended. President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov considers this decision wrong: “I think even if a person has antibodies, he can spread the infection”.

“The restrictions were temporarily lifted in some regions, it was summer, and we saw what it brought to. They had to go back to stricter measures two weeks later,” Avdonina said.

Talking about this, Avdonina likely means the same Udmurtia that has already experimented by cancelling the mask regime — masks weren’t compulsory from 13 July to 11 September. In other words, just two months were enough for the republic, then the mandatory mask regime was reintroduced due to a rise in the coronavirus incidence and growth of severe cases of the disease.

She noted that 79 cases of coronavirus had been registered on 10 February, while Udmurtia had 96 cases.

We should add that the idea of cancelling the mandatory mask regime has found support today too. So ex-chief physician of Russia, first Vice Chairman of the State Duma’s Committee for Education and Science Gennady Onishchenko, in contrast, backed the authorities of Udmurtia and claimed that mask wearing needs to be only a recommendation everywhere. He says that it is necessary to get the “swamp” moving with long-standing measures because it can stimulate vaccination.

Soon after that, it became known another Russian region refused the mask regime — it is Chechnya. Head of the region Ramzan Kadyrov said that the mandatory mask wearing was cancelled, but citizens of Chechnya nonetheless are insistently recommended to wear masks. “We came to such a conclusion after carefully examining the epidemiological situation in the region. It turns out to be good. We are also lifting the restrictions on crossing the borders of the republic. It is also an important decision amid the growing interest of tourists in our region,” Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel.