Север и рынок. 2022, № 2.

СЕВЕР И РЫНОК: формирование экономического порядка. 2022. № 2. С. 124-130. Sever i rynok: formirovanie ekonomicheskogo poryadka [The North and the Market: Forming the Economic Order], 2022, no. 2, pp. 124-130. НАУЧНЫЕ СООБЩЕНИЯ and implements infection control measures. The National Institute of Public Health monitors the epidemic situation and supervises and advises state and local authorities on infection control [3]. The two executive agencies are given a strong position for handling the pandemic. The municipal level is vital for implementing the national infection control measures. It has a prominent role in the COVID-19 response because the chief medical officer can use the emergency procedure given in the Infection Control Act to enact local bylaws. Early in the pandemic period several municipalities used this power to introduce stricter measures than the government's recommendations. The government lacked the authority to overrule such local bylaws, and this caused some tensions. The role of the regional level is limited to a coordinating role in crisis preparedness by coordinating information between the government and municipalities in the region. By the end of 2020, the Norwegian county governors had taken a more active role in working out regional risk assessment plans, thus reducing the need for municipal bylaws in conflict with governmental recommendations [9]. The Norwegian model of community-centred public health focusing on social distancing protocols, rapid testing, tracing close contacts of the infected, and tracking down people in need of isolation/quarantine is considered a success. A corona commission delivered a white paper on the authorities' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021, and it highlights the strong position of the municipal level as an important prerequisite for a balance of power between the different levels [9]. The first period can be characterized as a top-down governing model with the need for a strong, unified message from the different state bodies to the people. This was followed by a period of municipal "freedom" to take necessary actions to address local needs before better communications and routines were established for coordination between the municipal, regional, and national levels. The COVID situation in Murmansk oblast In early March 2020, the pandemic had reached Russia, and in mid-March it hit Murmansk oblast. The day after the first COVID case in the region was confirmed on March 16, the regional COVID-19 headquarter started to operate, and the governor announced a high alert regime and early school holidays, a ban on mass events, and soon the closure of sports centres, hotels, and restaurants and the transition to distance learning and remote work. From the end of March, access to a number of municipalities was restricted, especially those hosting large industrial enterprises. In early April, a COVID outbreak occurred at a liquefied natural gas construction site, and an emergency regime including the strict isolation of the site, the deployment of the mobile hospital of the Federal Ministry of Emergency Situations, and mass testing was introduced until mid-June. On March 30, in the region, as well as in the whole of Russia, a non-working-days regime with preservation of wages was enacted, which lasted until May 8, 2020. Places with high risks of transmission included industrial enterprises, especially those employing fly-in­ fly-out workers, and hospitals. The infections came with fly-in-fly-out workers, vessels boarding in Murmansk city, and people returning home from travels. With the high population density in Murmansk (the largest city in the Arctic Circle), as well as in the numerous industrial cities in the region, Murmansk oblast gradually found itself among the regions that were hardest hit. The blow was deflected by the mobilization of the existing healthcare facilities and the opening of additional COVID hospitals and observatories and promoting and enforcing compliance with anti-COVID rules such as mask wearing and social distancing, as well as by testing and tracing contacts of the infected, followed by isolation, the involvement of non-state health and well-being services, and vaccination. The pandemic followed in waves, and after a period of some easing in the number of infections and restrictions, in June 2021 Murmansk oblast experienced another COVID outbreak. Upon the recommendations of the regional Rospotrebnadzor, night-time restaurant and bar services were prohibited again and state-financed organizations were instructed to switch to a 30% remote work mode and shift to a sequential start of the working day for office workers. These measures were also recommended to non-state-financed employers. Volunteer work with vulnerable groups in Murmansk oblast In the first months of the pandemic the needs for medical attention, food deliveries, and other services increased, and people in need of help became more dependent on outside assistance. Since 2015, there has been an increase in volunteer activities in Russia, and at the national level 2018 was declared the Year of the Volunteer. The pandemic has given rise to further and exceptional growth in volunteerism in Russia and Murmansk oblast. The volunteers mobilized quickly, and Murmansk oblast was one of the first regions in Russia to establish united COVID volunteer centres. Three days after the first case of infection in the region, on March 20, 2020, the governor met with the leaders of the most active public movements — the All-Russia People's Front (ARPF), Volunteer Medics, Victory Volunteers, and the party "United Russia". By this time, volunteers from these structures had already started buying food and medicines and providing other assistance to vulnerable © Ныгор В., Рябова Л. А., 2022 127