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“I would very much like to hope that there will be no talk of quarantine, not even in the short term. Especially in the European Union. This is a last resort that must be applied briefly and with determination, for 3-4 weeks. However, life in the new reality will still have to remain, because the pandemic has not yet been defeated, ”said S. Čaplinskas on the Lietuvos Rytas New Day television program.
At the same time, the professor warned that vaccinating the population of his country alone would not be enough to control the virus. The situation, he said, must be considered globally.
S.Čaplinskas: “Unfortunately, we will have to revert to certain restrictions in the fall”
The government approved new quarantine requirements on Monday: there are no more restrictions on working hours for cafes, the requirements for obtaining a passport have been relaxed and the work of educational institutions has been simplified. S. Čaplinskas, an infectious disease specialist, notes that the relaxation of quarantine requirements is taking place on a regular basis, and Lithuania has finally received the changes that were predicted.
“As predicted, these changes are regular, which probably all Lithuanians expected. Experts from the World Health Organization say the same thing. Still, they point out that the pandemic has not yet been defeated. But in the northern hemisphere, where we live, one is seasonality.
Second, it goes without saying that a large number of people have been vaccinated, acquired immunity, (contributed to the management of the situation – aut.past.). Behavior has also changed, people are more confident. We have a positive result, which was expected, ”said the professor.
However, he cautioned that the reduction in disease rates due to seasonality and vaccination does not mean that the virus will not return in the fall. As a result, according to a communicable disease specialist, some restrictions may need to be reverted after the summer.
“Unfortunately, I have no doubts about certain restrictions, but we will have to return in the fall. These restrictions would be more related to being in confined spaces where there will be a high concentration of people; it is not clear what his covid state, it is not clear what ventilation and the like. We must accept this as a new reality when it comes to talking about some kind of indoor events.
On the other hand, it can also affect several work teams, but there are other tools out there: covid knowledge of the state, ventilation and other security measures “, – called S.Čaplinskas.
Won’t vaccinating your country’s population alone save the day?
The professor notes that the main focus now should be on preparing for fall so that there is “as little room as possible” for the virus to spread. According to him, this can only be done by vaccinating the population, but here is another problem: not all people in the world get vaccinated quickly due to the lack of vaccines.
“This is one of the reasons why some experts doubt whether to prioritize vaccinating adolescents in the European Union and other countries that can afford it, or vaccinating as many poor people as possible, because there are some countries that do not They have received without vaccines, yet the world is now very small, very global.
We cannot defeat a pandemic in Lithuania alone. For a while, of course, we can stop the spread of the pandemic in Lithuania, in groups or in families, but globally, we can only overcome the pandemic with the help of universal vaccination.
There should be no such black spots where the virus can find a place to spread, and then the virus can come from there with other people, or we can go there ourselves, ”explained S. Čaplinskas.
He stressed that, firstly, efforts should be made to prevent the introduction of the virus in Lithuania and, secondly, to prevent the spread of the virus on the ground: “All these measures will have to be applied in that new reality for another year to come “.
