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A few days ago a letter arrived at the editors of the news portal tv3.lt, in which a concerned reader expressed dissatisfaction with the current border control system.
“I returned by car from Warsaw to Vilnius, there was not a single post, no one stopped me anywhere, neither at the border nor near Vilnius. {…} So, in theory, I could have brought the mutated viruses into the country and no one would know. {…} It is incomprehensible to me why roads are blocked within the country, where people say they want to go to a bigger grocery store or ski slopes, and there are completely uncontrolled border roads where thousands of people can drive uncontrollably. mutantai“,” The man wrote in the letter.
The government has also become aware of the problem and has gradually begun to record foreign arrivals: starting Monday, all arrivals by air or sea will be required to submit a negative coronavirus test and complete a special questionnaire. Although not yet in force, similar measures are promised to those arriving by car.
Crisis management specialist psychologist Darius Radkevičius says such solutions are insufficient and that in recent months hundreds or even more preventable virus carriers may have entered Lithuania through an uncontrolled border.
The varieties could have been avoided
D. Radkevičius also tells tv3.lt about his experience traveling from Poland to Lithuania. Like the reader who approached the editorial office, D. Radkevičius missed the checkpoints and at least the slightest arrival controls at the border.
“You don’t understand how everything is until you go up and see that the borders are completely out of control,” laughs a member of the Vilnius City Council.
According to him, it is safe to say that the largest movement is on land roads, but restrictions are introduced last. The expert equates this to an apartment door open at night, when a burglar can break into the house without hindrance.
“We are all in quarantine, but the doors are open. It would be exactly the same if we asked residents to sit in their room but left the front door at night for a burglar to enter. All that quarantine that’s been there so far doesn’t make sense. Because the virus can enter us every day ”, D. Radkevičius does not hide his disappointment.
According to him, until we start assessing all the people entering Lithuania, we will be threatened not only by the third, but also by the fourth, and perhaps even the fifth wave of coronavirus.
“In my opinion, this shows that the experts who are gathered are in a narrow field. They don’t operate as they say big picture. To manage a threat, you must see the big picture and immediately prevent where the threat is coming from. It does not come from inside Lithuania, the threat comes from outside ”, explains D. Radkevičius.
In the expert’s opinion, we could have prevented both the virus strains in Lithuania and the uncontrolled spread of the disease, which had accelerated in autumn, if only the country’s borders had been properly controlled:
“In October, I traveled a lot in Samogitia. And when I interacted with the locals, where there were massive illnesses, everyone in the area knew where the virus was coming from. Everyone knows: one from Norway, one from England. I was in shock, people know where it comes from, but we do not screen everyone who knows, we isolate all Lithuanians and allow the virus to continue to move freely. “
All arrivals must be proven
In a press conference held on Monday, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė stated that the State Emergency Situations Commission (WESC) proposes to restrict the control of those who arrive by land at the border.
“The suggestion would be to stop the cars a little way from the wall, install certain poles for medical reasons and ask for information about the available test and send a complete form,” the interior minister told reporters.
Such inspections would be carried out by border guards and personnel from the National Public Health Center (NVSC).
Crisis management specialist D. Radkevičius says he supports such decisions, but they are not enough. He himself would suggest doing what most countries that successfully manage the virus do: free trials for all arrivals, whether by air, sea or land.
“If we take statistics on the number of cases in Greece, and then in Crete, Crete was and remained in the green zone, and all of Greece was on fire. The countries that really care about tourists and are disease-free are not only checking. They set up stands, where they test each visitor, for their own money, “explains D. Radkevičius.
In the plan proposed by the WESC, he sees several problems: expensive trial prices, possible discrepancies, and fraud: “What’s the problem? If a foreigner comes with proof, we can still say that everything is fine. But the problem is that our compatriots are coming back. Where do they have to take the exam in another country, for what money? “
The crisis management expert also points out that in many parts of the world it is cheaper to buy a fake coronavirus test certificate than to perform the test itself. There will also be the fact that some people will simply try to bypass the system; if the test is too expensive, the person will try to obtain a more accessible version.
“Now we will spend a lot of money in business to evaluate our employees. Any goal is to test if you can get sick and bring that virus back. {…}
We have thrown all our resources into the city centers, to the paralysis of trips, it is useless that a car that has crossed the border can reach the same town. Not all the resources are used there, we have them we moved“Says crisis management expert D. Radkevičius.
Controls will be strengthened
According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, to reduce the risk of spreading new mutations of the coronavirus, as of Monday, February 8, the control of all passengers arriving in Lithuania from abroad will be strengthened at entry points – airports and sea port. . This was established by a decision of the State of Emergency Operations Manager at the state level.
Controls on land roads have not yet been approved by the government. According to A. Bilotaitė, the main focus should be on the border with Poland, as Latvia has already introduced extremely strict restrictions.
“As it is not possible to apply those controls at the border posts, those controls must be guaranteed by organizing checkpoints a little further from the border, where there would be tents or officers stopping the cars and requesting the relevant documents according to the approved algorithms. and taking care of them, to complete them, ”A. Bilotaitė told reporters.
Starting Monday, checkpoints filled in by passengers by the National Center for Public Health will be checked at checkpoints and the results of COVID-19 tests available to passengers and their time will be evaluated.
According to A. Bilotaitė, although it should be controlled by the carriers, in practice “it does not work so well”, so it was decided to control them more strictly.
Specialists from the State Border Guard Service, the National Center for Public Health and passenger terminals at airports and seaports work at the checkpoints.
In preparation for further reinforced controls, arrival flows at Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga airports have been reorganized. Documents of all arriving passengers and COVID-19 test results will be verified in the arrival areas of airports at the time of baggage retrieval.
In the Klaipeda Seaport, improved checkpoints are installed at the Klaipeda Central Terminal and the Klaipeda Container Terminal.
Neighboring Latvia decided last week to suspend all flights from the UK, Ireland and Portugal to prevent a more dangerous strain of coronavirus from entering the country.
The Minister of Transport and Communications, Marius Skuodis, says that the Lithuanian government has decided not to follow Latvia’s decision, considering the number of travelers and the fact that it is possible to circumvent the ban on connecting flights.
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