Epidemiologists in Vilnius call for restrictions on the opening hours of bars and suspension of leisure activities: the municipality will not take sudden measures



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“We will assess the situation, if we will attend the commission meeting, I do not know, but we will discuss the possibilities of handling that situation. So far, we do not plan to take any concrete action abruptly,” we said Wednesday. 15 minutes commented P. Poderskis.

According to him, it is necessary to carefully assess whether the calls of the NVSC are based on objective data, whether the spread and hotspots are exactly where the restrictions are proposed.

“Yes, there are several cases in Vilnius clubs, but there are many cases in other places. When it comes to cafes, restaurants, I still see a cafe where people sit outside, at safe distances, with masks inside. Is there a virus spreading there or is it necessary to close that cafe? I think the solutions should be more precise these days. To get to the root of the problems with greater precision and not just follow the witches “, commented the director of the capital administration.

A discussion or meeting of the municipal emergency commission on the recommendations made by the NVSC, he said, should take place this week.

NVSC in Vilnius recommends temporarily restricting active leisure activities indoors, during which the use of respiratory protective equipment, such as group sports training, dance and singing studies, and reduction of working hours cannot be guaranteed from the bars.

According to Rolanda Lingienė, head of the Vilnius department at NVSC, the trends in recent days are forcing us to take action to stop the infection. Therefore, the temporary abandonment of those activities that currently present a greater epidemiological risk is proposed.

“The proposed measures are really soft, but we believe that they should be applied here and now so that further restrictions are not needed later. And they are proposed taking into account the statistics and figures available, as well as the epidemiological links between the identified cases. We registered outbreaks related to sports clubs, dance studios, hockey, which have spread to institutions, companies, organizations, schools. We have cases related to visits to bars, where those cases are like a spark that ignites outbreaks in a work or educational environment. In our opinion, we simply cannot afford that ‘luxury’ right now, “says R. Lingienė.

The NVSC had issued general recommendations to providers of such services only after consulting with public health professionals and taking maximum measures to prevent infection control. If this cannot be guaranteed, discontinue services. However, this did not produce the desired results: the cases in question continue to be recorded. Also, for example, when applying to one of the dance studios with a request for temporary suspension, the dance studio did not take such recommendations into account.

NVSC also reports that although the total COVID-19 morbidity rate in Vilnius is 100,000. population, there have been 64.6 cases in the last 14 days, but the situation is changing significantly.

As of noon today, the Vilnius Department of the NVSC has already received 98 positive test results for coronavirus infection.



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