The President regrets both the rhetoric of S. Skvernelis and the decisions of the Government

The head of state, who attended a remote press conference on Monday, said that in most cases the cabinet had taken into account the experts’ suggestions, but not all. For example, the government allegedly did not introduce mandatory teleworking for individuals.

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“The decisions that have been announced today, in my opinion, are not all appropriate to this very serious situation. Among them, I would mention the measure on the organization of telework, I think it is an insufficient measure that only covers companies in municipalities and state institutions.

The experts pointed out that it is necessary to make efforts to implement a teleworking regime in a sample of companies as wide as possible, as well as to connect, for this, to activate the State Labor Inspectorate, hotlines to report infractions. This measure is too weak, “taught G. Nausėda.

However, the president made a mistake: working in the private sector as of Wednesday will also have to organize remotely, unless that is not possible.

The president said the government had not heeded another recommendation from an expert: it had not limited people’s contacts to a single household.

“It was decided to limit contacts to two families, regardless of the fact that on holidays the two families can constantly change, that is, our family can communicate with one family, the next day – the second day of Christmas – with the second family, the third, fourth and next. Such a social bubble, if we want to form one, is known to be vague enough and will not stop the spread of the virus.

The researchers suggested that for Christmas, we just form a family bubble in a single-family circle, and then come up with a concept of how those bubbles could form in a two-family format. Therefore, in my opinion, this measure is not strict enough and therefore it will not be effective enough, ”predicted G. Nausėda.

Tighter measures, he said, would have produced faster results.

It is unfortunate that, time and again, expert advice is only partially taken into account.

“It is regrettable that the recommendations of the experts are only partially taken into account again and again,” said the head of state, hoping that the new government will bring changes.

“It must be said that the decisions on further tightening of the measures will have to be taken by the new government. I hope very quick and decisive solutions in this area,” said G. Nausėda.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, who participated in a remote press conference, briefed the president.

I have not heard an explanation as to why some decisions have not been made.

“The decisions can be considered insufficient. <...> I must say that I have not heard any explanation as to why some decisions have not been made, ”he said.

The prime minister has said so far that she cannot say what quarantine restrictions may be necessary in the future, but has said they will aim to protect doctors and the health care system from collapsing.

“The solutions that will be needed later, obviously we will have to discuss them later, because the situation is very dynamic and changes very quickly,” said I. Šimonytė.

The new government will have a separate plan of measures to handle the COVID-19 situation, he said.

And that plan of measures will also be made public. It covers the entire strategy, from resilience (the current healthcare system, maintaining resilience in society) to recovery that we understand through the vaccine and the chances of getting a ticket to freedom after reaching a wide range of vaccines.

And the future, when we will have to think about crisis management systems and other solutions that allow us to protect ourselves from such unpleasant events in the future or at least know how to manage them much better, ”said I. Šimonytė.

And now he has asked to “look at death rates with open eyes” and not think of them only as statistics.

“Just think of someone close to you, one in the house, and that position would probably change very quickly, and that carelessness, the tendency to risk nothing happening here, could be evaluated in a completely different way,” said the prime minister.

A health council created by the presidency met on Sunday to assess the COVID-19 situation in the country and develop guidelines for new restrictions. Acting Prime Minister S. Skvernel was not present at the meeting, calling the meeting “pakazucha” on Monday.

“Apparently, there is no need to do in such events, forgive the Russian word, right pakazuchos (demonstration actions). Experts are listened to, opinion is given, opinion is made known. And all the more to know that on Monday the government will make decisions, those decisions that had to be made, ”said the Prime Minister.

The president reiterated that those epithets were disrespectful.

Such epithets show, first of all, a lack of respect for scientists, experts, the most prominent representatives of this sector, who spared no time or effort, for patriotic reasons, undertook a mission to help the Government find optimal solutions. They did it without counting if it is a weekday or a weekend. Our last meeting took place on Sunday. It is a pity that his work has been valued with such an epithet ”, he lamented.

The outgoing Cabinet of Ministers tightened the quarantine conditions from Wednesday and extended it until the end of the year. You can read all the conditions here.