THREAD: COVID-19 has brought out the best and worst in all of our societies and governments. A few thoughts on trends in Syria:

So far, Damascus’ response to the crisis has been a case study in mendacious governance. The regime has suppressed information, lied about the outbreak’s severity, and impeded the international community’s ability to respond.

Harsh but haphazard restrictions on freedom of movement threaten to realize a lose-lose scenario, undermining Syria’s already broken economy while still allowing the virus to spread, for lack of consistency.

These measures add to Syria’s metastasizing economy of corruption: Well-off individuals can bribe their way into curfew exemptions, thus further subdividing the country into those who can and cannot afford privileged treatment.

The response feeds existing divisions in more ways than one. In Damascus and Homs, the authorities appear to apply blatantly sectarian policies by imposing less stringent security measures in Alawi suburbs and villages than elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the economy’s partial paralysis has accelerated Syria’s drift toward ever more offensive inequality. While most business owners are forced to shut down, their well-connected competitors stay open and monopolize profits.

Ordinary Syrians have responded with fatalism and stoicism. Many can't afford to stay home or buy basic protective equipment and hygiene supplies; out of sheer necessity, they proceed with business as usual.

Others seem to shrug at the threat posed by COVID-19, which they regard as just the latest installment in a decade of life-threatening calamities.

Even those keen to protect themselves are hard-pressed to do so—not just due to economic hardship and limited healthcare options, but because their environment is so replete with misinformation regarding both the threat itself and essential countermeasures.

As is often the case, survival hinges on ordinary people finding ways to support one another. Communities raise money to support their neediest, landlords suspend rent payments for tenants who cannot afford it, and people volunteer their cars to coordinate aid deliveries.

Yet small-scale initiatives and sporadic social distancing cannot substitute for a coherent government strategy. For now, there is no sign that Damascus has the will or the resources to even begin rising to the occasion.