President Vladimir Putin approved the idea of Rospotrebnadzor to make days off between May holidays. Now Russians will have a rest from May 1 to May 10 inclusive.
Update: according to the decree already signed, the days from May 4 to May 7 will be non-working with salary retention.
Initially, Russians had to rest from May 1-3 (due to the Spring and Labor holiday), and then from May 8-10 (as part of the Victory Day celebration).
But suddenly the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova took the initiative. She suggested combining the holidays. In her opinion, a break between the May weekends would contribute to an increase in the spread of COVID-19.
As Popova explained, these days Russians are used to going out of town, for example, to the country. Since the “holidays” turned out to be divided into two parts, people would have to go back and forth several times. Often on crowded public transport.
Therefore, after consulting with scientists and epidemiologists, Popova suggested combining the weekend to “make the epidemiological prognosis more stable.”
The President agreed with the proposal and promised to sign the relevant decree today.
Unfortunately, Rospotrebnadzor did not ask for an opinion on the initiative from business representatives, who are not only obliged to suspend work processes, but pay for employees’ weekends out of their own pocket.