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Last week, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė stated that the Government Emergency Situations Commission (WESC) on Monday intends to consider a plan for the application of quarantine conditions to municipalities with different epidemiological situations.
“We are preparing for the release of restrictions on movement between municipalities, so we need to have a good discussion and find suitable models so that municipalities where the situation is not bad are not among those where morbidity will increase drastically again. It is also necessary to ensure higher test volumes ”, A. Bilotaitė is quoted in the press release.
After nearly four months of quarantine, the new proposals continue to fragment the public as well as politicians and experts. While some call for restrictions to be lifted as soon as possible, others call for waiting, arguing that decisions made too quickly can be fatal.
Sinkevičius: so far nothing is clear
Mindaugas Sinkevičius, president of the Association of Municipalities of Lithuania, mayor of the Jonava district municipality, says on tv3.lt that municipalities have been involved in discussions about possible local releases, but admits that no precise solutions have been reached.
“There was an exchange of views. {…} The incidence is lowest in northwestern Lithuania, highest in eastern and southern regions. There was an attempt to say so bunches – municipalities of the same type, morbidity. Calculate that all municipalities can be grouped into 4 group. {…}
Thus, in principle, it was not clear whether it was necessary to start with the group of municipalities that looked the best or wait for the global decision that would take place as of March 15. It should loosen the grip of the movement for everyone. We are debating, time is running out. Those discussions are some of those: a discussion and it is not clear if we decide something or just exchange views. It happens that after such discussions, a week later it is decided otherwise or it is decided not to do anything ”, explains the mayor of the Jonava district.
He himself says that he supports the universal liberalization of movement restrictions, similar to the scale and most municipal leaders.
“A week later, on March 15th. I would probably be an advocate for the fact that if we see that it is safe, it is that day when we publish it universally. Of course, we can think about what we will do with the Easter weekend, if we need to organize an instant check. {…}
This week, until the decisions are made, the municipalities with the best situation will not gain any advantage “, teaches M. Sinkevičius.
According to him, during the meeting with the WEU it was also discussed that the most attractive municipalities bunches It could also renew the activities of educational and cultural institutions more quickly.
Veryga: It is not the movement itself that is causing the problem.
The former Minister of Health, Aurelijus Veryga, says that it is still difficult to understand in the government communication exactly what exemptions are provided. In his view, the movement’s releases would only generate even more confusion, depending on the epidemiological situation.
“It is very difficult to practically imagine how they would do it. Local quarantines work if one or other municipalities are affected. They can then be isolated and controlled effectively. If there are many of them, they are scattered throughout Lithuania, it will be a particularly difficult task for the police, who already have something to do.
Another thing for the residents themselves: they will need to know, to look. The limits of the municipalities are not marked everywhere, how to always know where it is possible and where it is not possible ”, explains A. Veryga.
He says he misses another important thing: communicating to the public how to behave safely if he still has to move between municipalities.
“It is not a safety reminder if you are driving somewhere. It is not the movement itself that causes the problem. The problem is that if you go somewhere where people are at risk, they will infect them. There is no reminder how society should behave. {…} Also, people still move between municipalities, they communicate. Now there is no way that people will not drive at all. They ride, but maybe not with their relatives, as they would if there will be no restrictions ”, says the parliamentarian.
For this reason, Veryga suggests that restrictions on circulation be completely removed:
“I would really support this (revocation of movement restrictions – aut. last.). If there really is a place that is special, where there is a really high morbidity, it may be possible to leave one or two places in Lithuania very isolated.
Sysas: Everyone is tired of quarantine
Algirdas Sysas, the eldest of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) faction in the Seimas, shares the same opinion. According to the politician, the current restrictions on movement lack logic and no longer serve their purpose.
“I have a very strange logic: in Vilnius it is possible to move between Karoliniškės and Pilaitė, where several tens of thousands of people live, and between Kazlų Rūda and Kalvarija, where 15 thousand people live. impossible.
We ask that this be taken into account, to give more rights to self-government. In order for them to take account of the situation and regulate themselves, it is not possible to regulate everything from Vilnius. Even more so because everyone is already tired of that quarantine. These measures do not give the results we expect, because mobility has already increased ”, says A. Sysas.
The major of the LSDP faction would also suggest a complete lifting of the inter-municipal movement ban:
“It just came to our knowledge then. There should be a threshold that the emergency committee should set and if that threshold is exceeded it should be closed. As happened in Nemenčinė during the first quarantine. What is Nemenčinė’s threat to Kretinga? Clearly none.
Unless there is a third or fifth wave, when diseases occur in Lithuania. “
A few weeks ago, the LSDP group presented an eleven-point plan outlining their proposals for quarantine release, vaccination, and testing. The plan also mentions restrictions on movement between municipalities. According to Orinta Leiputė, deputy director of the LSDP faction that presented the proposals, “blocking” the whole country according to a model, preventing people from moving, is wrong: “The social, demographic, economic and epidemiological indicators of specific cities and municipalities are Is not taken into account “.
Zemlys-Balevičius: I miss a sober risk assessment
Vaidotas Zemlys-Balevičius, a member of the Council of Health Experts and interviewed by Tv3.lt, is wary of calls from politicians. In his opinion, every decision that is made has its price, so it is worth considering all the possible risks in advance.
“Obviously the public wants those releases, but then the question arises of how we will manage the risk of further contact. {…} I lack a sober risk assessment both among politicians and among society. Everyone understands the negative consequences of the restrictions, but it all comes down to a roar: the government is bad, the experts are bad. But the virus doesn’t care about our emotions. {…}
If society decides that the economy is more important than life, let’s open everything and it does not matter that others die for it, then everything is fine. But you haven’t heard it yet ”, says the expert.
V. Zemlys-Balevičius distinguishes two scenarios that the Government could choose:
“One option is to liberalize the movement between municipalities, but then the releases can only be in Lithuania. No municipalities, no discounts. Or we leave restrictions on movement, but then we release something in the municipalities.
We cannot have both. If we liberalize the movement completely, there is no logic to grant more privileges to individual municipalities unless it is something like education. The release of contact activities, where it can come from another municipality, in different municipalities according to the epidemiological situation ceases to make sense, since they will be attended by people from other more strict municipalities. This bad epidemiological situation will move from one municipality to another ”.
The expert also says that the biggest concern at the moment is the spread of the British strain of the virus in Lithuania, which, if the movement is released, could spread uncontrollably across the country.
“We still do not have a normal assessment of its prevalence in Lithuania. As you know, it is significantly more contagious: 70 percent. It can be infected faster.
If we thoughtlessly launch this strain, it means that we run the risk of proliferation of the British strain and an increase in disease. How we manage the risk of the British option, nobody talks about that. Of course, we are not talking about other varieties either. The British strain is still nothing, but the African strain, for example, has less protection against it and some vaccines, ”explains V. Zemlys-Balevičius.
Bilotaitė: the situation is very different in different municipalities
Tv3.lt recalls that the Government has already allowed movement between the main Lithuanian cities and their ring-road municipalities. At the moment, the movement is allowed for the cities and districts of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and Alytus.
According to Interior Minister A. Bilotaitė, quarantine restrictions in different municipalities could be released at different times.
“Today we see that the situation is very different in different municipalities. In some places we see blackened municipalities, in other places – light pink, and in other places – already yellow – this means that it is already much better there and we can speak of a more ordinary life.
It is obvious that where there is a better situation and movement can be freer, and where there is worse, where there are more than 500 cases of disease, it should be seen with greater responsibility ”, said A. Bilotaitė.
According to the agreement, the municipalities marked in black, where more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in 100,000 in 14 days. population.
The municipalities are marked in pink, where 100-200 new diseases are detected in 100 thousand. population, yellow color – up to 100 cases.
The government extended the quarantine until March 31. The restriction of circulation between the country’s municipalities was extended until March 15.
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