Šarknickas received a call from the Seimas Chancellery: after the investigation in the parliament he offered to do a test

The politician wrote on his social network account that he found it strange this Wednesday morning, since he had been called from the Seimas Chancellery to find coronavirus particles on his desk in the Seimas Chamber on December 23.

“They asked me to do a test today. So far it has felt good, ”wrote R. Šarknickas on his Facebook account. The Seimas member also asked those who had been in contact with him since December 23 to inform those around him about safety.

When Delfi contacted Mr. Šarknick himself, he reiterated the information he had previously shared and said that he was waiting to take the test. However, the news portal complained that some time after the Facebook post, he felt a bit ill.

“I was also surprised to be informed about those particles a week later, when I was able to have contacts. This means that something is still being done wrong, because disinfection is done daily, ”he said.

The spokesperson for the Chancellery of the Seimas Justė Radzevičiūtė-Laugalien estaba confirmed that the parliamentarian was actually informed about the virus particles found on his desk.

“Yes, he was informed, but we cannot comment further, because this surface study was carried out at the initiative of the National Blood Center. We just agreed to participate. “

When asked if disinfection would not be done more frequently at that time, he said that so far nothing had been decided to change.

He did not study people, but places

Daumantas Gutauskas, representative of the National Blood Center, said that this research was only coordinated by his institution and carried out by scientists from the Center for Life Sciences.

“On December 23, before Christmas, we conducted an investigation. It took some time to carry out and systematize those studies. The information was sent to the Seimas Chancellery yesterday (Tuesday -” Delfi “).”

He also emphasized that it is not easy to get a result quickly as samples have to be taken first, then pooled, analyzed in the lab, and all assigned to specific locations.

“As you know, we don’t study people, we investigate specific places. We didn’t know anything about personalities and ourselves because we only studied surfaces in certain places. We surveyed the plenary hall, where we sampled countertops, door handles, and other surfaces that are frequently touched. We also did it in the corridors, in the elevators, in some of the offices where more people gather, in the political corridors ”.

According to him, the initiators of the investigation did not identify the people in the risk group themselves, they only sent the information to the Seimas Chancellery where they found those particles.

When asked to explain the purpose of this study, D. Gutauskas said that his aim was to investigate asymptomatic cases. At the same time, he added that this could save money by not requiring PCR testing for everyone.

“One could simply ask to investigate those who were sitting or in a certain place where these particles were found. However, this does not mean that the owner of the desk is sick, it is possible that these particles were spread by the person who visited him ”, he explained.

So far, added D. Gutauskas, it is not clear if further investigations of this kind will be done, we just want to make sure how accurate such information would be.