On Monday there will be confusion: hotels will give priority to the Opportunity Passport, sports clubs will try to do without it, water parks will not be operational yet

When the Passport of Opportunities (GP) goes live, not all exempt activities will open their doors immediately.

The Druskininkai water park as well as the Vichy water park in Vilnius will be closed for the time being; it will be examined if there will be enough visitors after the GP system starts working.

The Klaipėda Basin is scheduled to open on June 1, but so far it has not been possible to say under what conditions; there were no clear explanations from the operations manager.

Sports clubs, it seems, will be ignored by the GP for the moment: they will allow a smaller number of people to enter the available pools, they will operate with stricter restrictions, when a person needs 20 square meters M. Meters of area. Vidmantas Šiugždinis, director of the Impuls and Lemon health clubs, explains that there are not enough people with GPs at the moment. Perhaps larger group trainings could be offered in separate rooms.

However, hotel representatives say that any option is already good for them: with a GP they will be able to offer to choose a buffet, serve people inside, let more people enter the pools or saunas. However, those without immunity will have to take care of the test themselves for the time being.

Šiškauskienė: we no longer think about anything, any option is good

Evalda Šiškauskienė, president of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association, assures that GPs have a new opportunity to offer services to hotels and restaurants that they could not before.

“You know, we no longer think about anything, for us any option is good and the business adapts very quickly to all the requirements so that it can only work, retain and retain employees,” says E. Šiškauskienė.

When asked how hotels will choose whether to serve visitors with or without a GP, he admits that it will not be easy, but in this case the GP has more advantages.

“It is better for us to let a little more people in with a GP after checking in than it is now when one or two people are taking a bath. And the cost of heating the water and everything else, you realize is very high. And the possibility that a buffet and planting inside the hall is already possible is, I think, a big step forward here ”, says E. Šiškauskienė.

It ensures that the proportion of people who have been vaccinated or become ill is already high.

“Of course, it is not easy, and there will be many questions of all kinds at the beginning. And today we are still going into great detail in every detail, because in some places the requirements still intersect or there is no complete logic in them. They promise that they will be adjusted on Monday ”, considers E. Šiškauskienė, and explains that, for example, there are two requirements for celebrations with a GP: there can be an unlimited number of people in the room, and another restriction foresees only 10 people.

E. Šiškauskiene also does not understand why restaurants can only operate until 10:00 pm.

“We ask for an extension of the working hours for the restaurants, we don’t understand why here the extension falls apart after an hour, when it could immediately be allowed to operate until 23-24. and it no longer changes. Because it’s not that easy for us to cancel people from downtime and plan work ahead for a few months, and here an hour is changing something. But we’ll see, “said E. Šiškauskienė.

When asked about the possibility of people taking the Passport Possibility test in a hotel, E. Šiškauskienė admitted that this will not be possible yet, but that solutions are being sought.

“People will be able to attend with a valid 24-hour exam, but they must do it themselves. If you ask if hotels can do it, they can’t do it, healthcare professionals need to do it here. Once done at the hotel, no one will be included in the e. health, ”says E. Šiškauskienė.

Vichy will consider opening in mid-June and will meet in Druskininkai on Monday

The Vichy Water Park, located in Vilnius, has not been able to operate so far, but it has not yet been decided whether to open it to receive visitors with GPs.

“In fact, we have been thinking for a long time and planning to see a little bit how that passport will work, how much it will be used in different age groups, if someone will interfere, if it will work without problems, how many people will use it and so on. And then let’s decide. Because it is a terrible cost and loss for us to open, if it does not work, and to close again ”, says Marius Šiškauskas, director of the water park.

He estimates that it will take around 2-3 weeks at least to deal with the situation, roughly the same amount of time and preparation for the opening. The first water park could open in mid-June.

“We cannot start up such a large unit from Monday and start operating. We will technically evaluate all the opening possibilities, and we will take the time to see how everything is going with the same passport,” says M. Šiškauskas.

With the existing restrictions, the water parks do not have facilities to operate and receive visitors without the Passport of Opportunities.

“Since it is allowed to accept up to 50 people without a passport, it is not automatically suitable for us: approximately 1,000 visitors passed by us in about a day. It just does not pay us for 50 people to start. Therefore, we would choose to admit people with only one general practitioner, because otherwise there is no talk of starting work, ”says M. Šiškauskas.

Delfi also tried to contact the Druskininkai water park administration, but it turned out that not all of the staff were working yet. The municipality of Druskininkai reported that on Monday the administration of the water park will hold a meeting, where it will be decided what to do after the Passport of Opportunities becomes operational.

The director of the Klaipeda basin, Ieva Vaičiurgė, reported that the basin is planned to open from June 1, but it is not yet clear which visitors will be able to visit and under what conditions.

“I will not comment until the official decision of the operations manager on what requirements we can open. So far, there are only fragments. When there is a formal decision, then we will consider it,” explained the manager.

Sports clubs will operate without a passport at the moment

For now, sports clubs are choosing to accept all residents and GPs will not verify.

“We choose the opportunity to accept everyone, whether they have a family doctor or not. In any case, as a sports club, we pay close attention to full compliance with regulations, disinfection and other requirements, so we are sure that we will be able to provide services adequately both to people who have family doctors and to those who that they do. not. We don’t really choose one side or the other, we will serve all customers, ”says Dovilė Pilipavičienė, director of the Forum Sports Club.

She confirmed that at least 20 square meters M. Area meters. The pools without a GP, according to the Government’s decision, cannot be visited by more than 50 people, providing 20 m2. meters of plank each.

“We are imposing an even greater restriction on our part and we are telling our members that our group will have capacity for 37 people, because we adhere to those places very strictly,” explained D. Pilipavičienė.

V. Šiugždinis, director of the associations representing sports and health clubs, as well as Impuls and Lemon clubs, says that sports clubs are concerned that they will be forced to choose: admit only visitors with or without doctors from header, which guarantees stricter conditions. Currently, this last option is more attractive for sports clubs.

“Choosing to go with a GP for the whole club or without a GP is too strict and not very rational. If a sports club decided to do it, it would greatly reduce its audience. That is what we are starting to do so far with the option that everyone can go, but we do not make the club only for GP champions. And when we open the group trainings from May 31, we decided to do them in two types: they will be specially marked in the schedule so that those who have a GP can attend, and then there are no restrictions, or only 5 people, but no GP is marked ”, – shares V. Šiugždinis.

Explain that the pools will also be observed over 20 square meters. meter requirement, and the pools will not be accessible to more than 50 people, the GP will not be inspected.

Subsequently, it will be necessary to examine the technical implementation of saunas and how to implement it. As if you wanted to let those people into the sauna with a GP, but will the person bring a phone or printed paper to the sauna? This is still a big question, “says V. Šiugždinis.

He estimates that so far the number of GPs for sports clubs is too small, but more are expected in the future.

“It cannot be said that paving the way to play sports with a GP, when there are very few people who have it so far, is a compression not through restrictions, but through the number of users. For sports clubs, then, nothing changes. So we would say that the State should continue to subsidize this sector, because it remains closed ”, emphasized V. Šiugždinis.