COVID-fireworks at Scarlet Sails: the graduates' holiday turned into a scandal

Street mural based on the Scarlet Sails holiday

A street mural inspired by the large-scale Scarlet Sails festival in St. Petersburg at the height of the pandemic appeared in the Urbanfresco street art museum. The painting depicts a frigate with scarlet sails surrounded by bursts of fireworks in the form of a CORONAVIRUS molecule. On the Instagram of the project, the author of the painting, Oleg Lukyanov, signed the work: “We really hope that the Graduation Day has not turned into a Virus Day.” The organizers of the holiday also collected negative reviews in social networks.

"Hope for the best"

"Scarlet Sails" was held in St. Petersburg on the night of June 26 in full-time format, despite a significant increase in the incidence of coronavirus and the cancellation of other public events. The citywide graduation brought together, according to the Smolny Education Committee, about 40,000 graduates. According to media reports, many more people gathered in the city center and on the embankments - these are teachers, parents, and guests. Palace Square was completely filled. Many social media users drew attention to the fact that during the holiday, many did not comply with the mandatory conditions - neither social distance, nor wearing masks.

Photo: website of the administration of St. Petersburg

On Monday, June 28, Governor Alexander Beglov explained that it was important to give the 2021 graduates "hope for the best." “Our guys deserve graduation in full-time format. We gave them that opportunity. Listened to the wishes of the parent community. They did not deprive 40,000 people of a holiday that happens only once in a lifetime,” he said.

Photo: Regnum/PhotoXPress.ru

Officials reported that they had taken all possible security measures: only masked and only graduates were allowed into the Palace Square, the city center was blocked for transport, and approaches to the epicenter of the holiday were even for pedestrians. The roofs of nearby houses were checked and, according to the authorities, the exits to the attics were welded and sealed. Moreover, the authorities claim that each participant was warned that "the final choice is his."

Photo: Regnum/PhotoXPress.ru

"Are you mocking common sense?"

The past holiday outraged many users of social networks. DIRECTOR of the Great Moscow Circus Edgar Zapashny spoke publicly on his Instagram. In particular, he drew attention to the inconsistency of the actions of the authorities: “You are simply mocking common sense ... You have banned restaurants from working at night, you are introducing QR codes so that people can just eat or go to the sea, you have closed playgrounds and introduce a lot of new restrictions for attending events! It is you, the officials, who are trying by any means to force people to get vaccinated, and then you are holding unnecessary festivals on squares with thousands of people for budget money!

Photo: Regnum/PhotoXPress.ru

Young people get sick more often

According to the latest official information from the Petersburg Against Coronavirus portal, 1,374 new cases of covid-19 have been registered in the city over the past 24 hours . 119 people died from coronavirus the day before - and this is a new record for deaths for the city for the entire time of the pandemic. Considering that on June 12, at the beginning of the Euro 2020 matches in St. Petersburg, the death rate from COVID-19 was 45 people, in two weeks this figure has more than doubled.

Earlier, doctors reported that the number of young people with “covid” has recently increased in the city. As Anton Barchuk, director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Medical Research (IMMI) at the European University in St. Petersburg , told RBC Petersburg , it is likely that the “Indian strain” of the virus is spreading faster among young people, including children, which was not the case with previously identified strains. “According to the data already obtained, the Indian strain spreads much faster, that is, it takes less time than existing strains to infect the same number of people,” the expert noted. Smolny officials also spoke about the fact that COVID-19 was “younger”.