Affected by quarantine and panic, life in Kyiv has been subdued in the past few weeks.
The influenza epidemic stormed into the lives of Kyivans at the end of October, chasing them off the lively streets, crowded subways, buses and busy cafes. Since then, as a national quarantine remained in place on Nov. 19, the rhythm and vibrations of Kyiv life have been seriously disrupted.
The metro broadcast messages about the importance of wearing a mask in public places. Doctors and politicians warned about the dangers and how to prevent the H1N1 flu virus. And the rising death toll added to the fear, fury and fever, prompting people to talk about little else.
In the first days of the epidemics, modern pharmacies transformed into Soviet-time shops with noisy lines and a deficit on the most-needed goods – anti-viral medications, antipyretics and masks. After people had made stocked up, the buying crazy slowed down. But flu medicines are still hard to find.
“Come earlier in the morning when we have a delivery, we sold out everything,” said Nina Alekseeva from a pharmacy on Volodymyrska at 11 a.m., two hours they opened for the day.
Public transportation emptied out as only those who had to commute to work took it. They rode with more comfort and elbow room. But those who dared to sneeze or caught in front of people and not wear a mask were given angry looks.
While some enjoyed the lesser crowds, business owners complained that their clientele declined significantly.
The drivers of the mini-buses dubbed marshrutkas complained that life in the times of the flu epidemic became harder for them and yielded smaller profits.
“Our bosses checked that we wash cars every day with some chlorine smelling liquid that they give us which smells really bad,” said Anatoliy Klimenko, a Route 12 marshrutka driver. “The amount of passengers is down 40 percent, because students don’t take my bus anymore.”
The Ukrainian government closed schools and universities for at least three weeks, providing thousands of youngsters with an unexpected bonus of free time.
“Podil is the university hub and many students used to come up to our place to have coffee between classes. But now, 30 percent of our clientele is gone,” said Mikhail Rodionov, manager of Coffee House on Podil.
Trendy restaurants also complained about the lack of customers. “People are now paranoid about the epidemic. They think they make a big risk coming for dinner to even a superb restaurant, but it’s not true,” said Yana Zdorenko, deputy director of Planeta Sushi. “We wash floors and disinfect surfaces two times per day and our personnel are wearing masks.”
Another trendy restaurant, Marakesh, also sits mostly empty during prime dinner time. “It’s our second week when we serve dinners for half of the amount of customers we used to have,” said Yulia Sinaevskaya, Marakesh manager.
Cheaper lunch places like Puzata Khata on the corner near Andriyvsky Uziv are also rather empty. Puzata Khata’s manager Aleksiy Cherdnyk said that customers are coming back because “they need an inexpensive place to eat,” but business still has not returned to normal.
“We give out lemons to our cooks and servers to prevent them from getting sick. Sanitary epidemiological service comes to check on us every day, but we are always doing well and our waiters are healthy,” Cherdnyk said.
Shopping malls, supermarkets and cinemas were all obliged by the city administration to have their personnel working in masks. Not many of them do. But, according to Natalia Dymchenko, administrator at Columbia outlet in Ukraine shopping mall on Victory Square, the fault lies with shop management. “We follow the rules and think in the best interests of our clients. It’s our policy. And we don’t want have problems with sanitary epidemiological service,” she added.
Shop assistants look busier now than a week ago and say that shops have started to make the same profits as in pre-epidemics times.
“Customers came back and also many student flock here to spend the free time that they have on quarantine,” said Olena Grigorieva, sales person at PTA clothes shop.
“Many parents with kids come to pick up DVDs and video games,” said Zhenya Nikitenko from the music shop at Ukraine shopping mall. “I guess parents just don’t know how keeps their children occupied [on quarantine],” he added.
Kishenya supermarket in shopping mall Ukraine obviously took the sanitary epidemiological service prescriptions seriously: all the personnel were in masks and the floors were freshly washed.
Across the road from Kishenya, in the Silpo supermarket, the situation is the opposite. Almost no sales assistants have masks and those who have, pull them down from their faces.
Kateryna Grushenko can be reached at [email protected]
