Veryga named the main restriction on quarantine that should be left: the vast majority propose to be released

“It is good, at least, that the main restrictions on movement between municipalities are no longer present. They may, of course, have not been around for a long time, except perhaps during Easter itself. But anyway, from what I see, the time has not come to release enough for people to breathe air, recover from quarantine, and now the number of cases is growing again. Of course, there are several explanations for why this happened, but the simplest explanation is that the public has simply stopped following most of the restrictions that apply, and that is already clear from the number of pandemics and cases.

We, as a country, are a bit late. These issues needed to be addressed earlier, both in stores and at events. Certainly there are some things that can be done safely, and now new challenges are emerging: vaccination, the so-called immunity passport, which should be done sooner, and we are still dealing with such a big aging problem. When it comes to restricting movement, what does it mean for people to find ways around it? ”Veryga says.

Veryga: The further away, the fewer people will listen

Asked if the government could have taken other measures given the deterioration of the figures, the former minister assured that the people de facto They are no longer quarantined, and it will be very difficult to find a good recipe for what to do next.

“As I said, for society to comply, it is necessary not to demoralize. She must be involved in the process. Now what was being done? It was considered closed under maximum pressure, there were some illogical ones. Now society de facto Much is not being accomplished anymore, and no matter what the government is doing, part of the citizenry is feeling the pandemic fatigue, it can be called some other term that was talked about a few months ago.

It has not been listened to, the public has not been given a break, and now it is not complying [ribojimų]. People have found ways to avoid quarantine because they no longer believe that they no longer see a clear perspective of when things will end, although that perspective now seems to be “fading.” We have already heard about supermarkets, and now everything has been canceled again. I think the further away, the fewer people will listen. It will be very difficult to find a good recipe and they will probably agree that we cannot quarantine ourselves indefinitely, no matter how bad the situation is, ”says the interlocutor.

What bans should be lifted and what should be left behind?

Veryga identified what he considered the most effective prohibitions and restrictions now and what should be removed.

“The prohibition of large events or events in general where people gather out of control must remain in force, except in cultural events where order can be maintained. In a theater, for example, people can dress up in masks, subject to certain requirements, but clearly it is more difficult to control people where there are no seats, so control must be maintained where divination could be disastrous. All other prohibitions, including those relating to communication in the home, other than two households – how can we implement and enforce them?

I understand that if music is played through the windows at night, then the police may come, but otherwise such a ban is ineffective, ineffective, even when it comes to supermarkets. We see that no decision has been made to allow the opening, it is a question of what is happening next, if people do not gather somewhere in a smaller place ”, considers A. Veryga.

“The main thing that I would leave if it was my decision are only those meetings that are impossible to manage. Where tickets are not sold, where the organizers cannot seat the participants ”, adds the former minister.

Do other countries behave differently?

Lithuania is certainly not the first country to apply such strict restrictions. If we look at what is happening in other parts of the world, in the closest countries, we will see that businesses and schools are also closed there, and we are returning to strict quarantine.

When asked by the former minister if other government actions were really worth considering, Veryga assured that other countries were behaving somewhat differently.

“We are not exceptional in general terms when it comes to quarantine, because no state has invented anything magical. These are common measurements. But if we look at the countries that are reintroducing quarantine, they still opened a certain window for the public, released it, gave it a chance to relax, and then apparently the public is motivated in another way, knowing that it is temporarily closed when it is released. needs mobilization.

We didn’t have that seriousness of deliverance for months. Another thing that the parties keep doing is, I think, that in addition to such a strict lockdown, there are still candies tied to the same immunity passport. Now communication with us is like this, it is said that not everyone, then no one, until there are vaccines for everyone, there is no need to move anywhere, to be more free, because it will be a great social injustice “, he says. A. Veryga.

When asked on the show what to do about the growing number of illnesses, the former minister says more creative solutions must be found to address the rise in illnesses.

“Remind the public of the measures to take, not only to close or open something, but to remind them how to behave. Now that the patterns of behavior have been exhausted, it is necessary to look for creative ways. I don’t think there are creative people in Lithuania, maybe this should be done in the form of humor, because now everyone is tired of serious faces, people wake up to read negative news every day. Maybe you need to say everything with more joy, doesn’t it occur to anyone? You have to try to talk to people, that it is important to be attentive and that you have to follow that or that ”, says A. Veryga.

Would an immunity passport be useful?

At present, the idea of ​​an immunity passport is called for as soon as possible. According to the former minister, this must be done much earlier.

“There could be an area where Lithuania has the opportunity to show leadership. I will say why we urge the Health Committee not to wait for Europe to agree and decide, because it is not very easy to make such decisions in Europe, and The example is very banal that Germany itself, which is a federal state and everyone in the country has its own health system, and in Lithuania we have a centralized system. If a person has been vaccinated or tested for the coronavirus, or has been ill, then these data are already e. Health system.

Basically, we don’t even have much to create here. You may just need to create a tool that is more convenient. There is also a lot of talk about generating a QR code that can be scanned by a mobile phone and verified, [žmogus] vaccinated or not vaccinated. Already open e. access to the system we can show that data ”, says A. Veryga.

According to him, you should try to move, even in small steps.

“It seems to me that data bullying is redundant. I would suggest not waiting for complicated technical processes and getting moving. Sometimes we are stubborn, all or nothing, maybe we run away from it e. health where you see that data, and let people, for example, go to the theater, then we will see how that system works. It will also be an incentive for people to get vaccinated, ”says A. Veryga.

According to A. Veryga, initially vaccination in Lithuania was quite successful, but a breakthrough occurred when the reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine was destroyed.

“Joval started when the problems with AstraZeneca started. Then all the processes started to get bogged down, people refused to get vaccinated, some cities didn’t want to get vaccinated with that vaccine. I think then there was unnecessary disobedience to requests for a quick response and Restore the reputation of this vaccine when it was still possible to do so Now that reputation is already badly damaged and I don’t think it will return to the level it was before.

Apparently, now we will have to accept a situation in which it will be necessary to allow those who want to be vaccinated with that vaccine. Everyone else will be waiting for the dream of other less talked about vaccines. Trust in shared vaccines has eroded, many problems. Furthermore, municipalities are doing it differently: some are good, some are not. As an example of where things are going well, I can name Kaunas, which has a centralized system of polyclinics, ”says the interlocutor.