Iranians are Unsure About Lockdowns and the Government’s Erratic Policies are not Helping

The government's new plan to impose widespread restrictions to control the spread of coronavirus has had mixed responses at the community level. IranWire citizen journalists Venus Omidvar and Rahmat Azari, who use pseudonyms for security reasons, report.

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“It appears as though the government's rules are only for the bazaar and the shopkeepers,” says Ashkan when asked about the two-week comprehensive closure of businesses in big cities. “What kind of quarantine and lockdown is this if it does not include government bodies and private companies?”

"As soon as the coronavirus rate rises, the first thing that comes to the minds of the authorities is to shut down the bazaars," an employee of a foreign clothing brand tells us. "It is as if the virus is only transmitted in shopping malls, big stores, and shops.

"It is true that one of the best ways to control the disease is to reduce traffic," he says. "But why hasn't the movements of government employees or the employees of private companies, who are not few in number and often travel by public transport, decreased very much?"

Weeks after the country's officials, specialists, and health and medical experts stressed the need to close businesses in cities in a high, or red, state of alert, for at least two weeks to control the spread of coronavirus before the onset of winter, the government finally backed down. Alireza Raeesi, spokesman for the National Coronavirus Taskforce, announced a two-week shutdown in the capital and 150 other cities starting on November 21.

At first it was said that there would be a full closure in red zones, except for businesses that provide essential goods and services to people, including supermarkets, hospitals, doctors' offices, and pharmacies.

Government employees were told that those who work in sectors providing the services most urgently needed, such as water, electricity, gas, medical and health services, as well as those employed in banking and other financial services, postal services, communications, public transport, city upkeep and so on should continue operating at a maximum of one-third capacity.

And yet, on the morning of Saturday, November 21, the streets appeared to be packed with people, suggesting the government sector lockdown might not be so serious.

What About Private Companies?

When it comes to employees for private companies, there is even less evidence of any kind of lockdown or restrictions on movement. They appear to keep reporting in person to their offices even more than government employees do, and almost all these companies continue to operate at full capacity on a full-time basis. According to a National Coronavirus Taskforce official, private-sector companies based in red-alert cities not providing essential services and goods are closed, but evidence on the ground suggests otherwise.

"Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, we have not been closed for a single day,” says Nahid, who works for an import trading company, adding that the hours she and her colleagues work have changed very little, maybe an hour less a day. "The closure of these two weeks, as always, does not include us, the employees for the private sector."

She says when she went to work on the morning of Saturday, November 21, “traffic on the streets was not different from other days, and because there are several other private companies and government offices near my place of work and their employees were at work, as always, I struggled to find a parking space."

Nahid described what it has been like to work in Tehran while businesses have allegedly been closed. "The remote working of one-third of government employees has been going on for several months, and the employees of private companies are working at almost their full capacity. So this massive shutdown has only affected bazaars and businessmen like my husband, who, without any government support, have to bear the burden of the authorities' lack of management in resolving the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It is true that the streets are really empty at night and the traffic has decreased drastically, but when a worker or employee has to leave Karaj, Eslamshahr, Shahriar, or this side of Tehran every morning and use the metro, bus or taxi to get to other parts of the city, does a general lockdown make sense?"

And Family Gatherings?

We spoke to Masoud, the director of a marketing and distribution company for cosmetics, about another statement made by taskforce spokesman Alireza Raeesi, in which he said that one of the main factors in the spread of coronavirus was family gatherings. "The government itself declares that family gatherings are the most important cause of spreading coronavirus, so what thinking has been done on this issue? Shouldn't more work be done on culture, education and information during these months?”

He said he and all his staff were working as normal. "Our work depends on pharmacies, medical centers and doctors' offices. These jobs are not included in the two-week lockdown, so we did not close our business either. As usual, the employees come to work adhering to health protocols."

"If the government would support employees at private companies, bazaars and shopkeepers, no one will be exempt from the lockdown," he said. "Livelihood assistance should cover at least half of the costs and expenses. Certainly if this happens, we will agree to a closure. But when livelihood assistance is announced to be 100,000 tomans [$4] per person for some groups on the government's list, it is not possible to close that business. In this situation, total lockdown affects mostly street vendors and businessmen who are right in front of authorities' eyes and who must lower their shutters. But  we, the companies, are often behind closed doors.”

We spoke to another employee in an investment consulting firm, Mena, who is still going to her office. ”Given that we mostly deal with banks, stockbrokers and their affiliates and they are not closed these days, our managers have not closed the company completely,” she says. “Instead, they have rented it out so staff work every other day. When I have to go to work for three days instead of six, I am still not safe from coronavirus and the situation is still threatening.” She added that every day a large number of clients visit the office.

We also spoke to people who told us the lockdown has also not been applied to Kish Island, where tour companies continue to invite people to book leisure trips and services, advertising via text and on social media and through apps.

It is obvious that the “comprehensive lockdown” is far from comprehensive. It is not being imposed on the majority of government managers, business owners and private companies, many of which have not closed their businesses.