The restrictions that have come into effect can only be the beginning: what is this mysterious Plan B?

The content and tone of calls from Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė on Tuesday appear to have calmed criticism of the decisions made over the weekend to tighten quarantine rules in the country for the next 6 weeks.

Everything seemed clear, but it soon became clear that some of the instructions were based on goodwill. The officials, although they promise to take measures similar to those taken last Easter weekend, when circulation in the country was also restricted, emphasize that they will first seek to speak, persuade, not punish.

Such a communication strategy appears to go hand in hand with possible penalties for misconduct: public awareness is expected, but the police are prepared to punish and discipline quarantine violators. However, in such a situation, not only are the guidelines for future measures clearer, but it is grudgingly recognized that if the public does not prove worthy of quarantine mitigation measures, there is Plan B.

I don’t want to talk about “B”

Interior Minister A. Bilotaitė was probably the first to mention the existence of such a plan at a press conference on Tuesday.

“The police will certainly not have a purpose to punish, the police will have a purpose to explain first, and we await the awareness and understanding of the public. If these measures do not work, we have discussed and we have a plan of stricter measures, which we will implement if necessary ”, said A. Bilotaitė.

Renatas Požėla, Commissioner General of the Police, and Arūnas Paulauskas, her deputy, declined to comment on the plan. The latter also acknowledged in the Delfi Theme program that Plan B is underway and is already being prepared.

“We are not talking about that plan B yet, we hope that the measures now planned will work,” the official said succinctly. However, both opposition and non-opposition parliamentarians have already expressed doubts about the measures envisaged by the current government, which is a de facto state of emergency but a de facto state of emergency. Vytautas Bakas, MP and former NSGK president, thinks the same.

Isn’t the emergency so terrible?

“I think that what is being done now is in line with the content of the emergency. Politicians, the ruling majority do not dare to make decisions, they opt for a simpler way, pretending that this is not an emergency. But in fact , It is already working and that is why: the essence of a state of emergency is to limit activities and constitutional rights. Restricted freedom of movement? Yes. Restricted freedom of economic activity? Yes, the activities of businesses, companies, people. Therefore, in essence, this is an emergency situation, about which lawyers also talk, ”said V. Bakas.

Baku said it was not the time to look back and find out who and why before he feared making decisions that could have led to the current number of infected people, because when an open flame burns the healthcare system, discussing the details now would be irresponsible.

However, in his opinion, the term itself should not be afraid of, as it is not yet a state of war. According to him, on the one hand, the state of emergency is not as terrible as it is trying to portray, because it is possible to choose which restrictions to apply and which not.

“I am a bit surprised that the government or the president do not take the initiative and do not offer a state of emergency. That would be better because the solutions would be more weighted.

Sometimes it seems that there is only chaos in the Seimas, but there are also discussions there, not when various people shut down and adopt restrictive measures or use billions without parliamentary control, ”said V. Bakas.

On the other hand, both he and his MP Paulius Saudargas recognized that Plan B can and should be called not only stricter restrictions in the first place, but at a later stage.

“The restrictions cannot be absolute, it is a last resort. If we have prohibited something and we believe that it will end there, it will not be like that. I want to see other tools.

For example, now there are outbreaks of the virus in health institutions, where doctors work tired and even patients call, ask to be removed from hospitals, this is where I do not hear any initiative on how to handle the situation, “he said. V. Bakas. He said that people followed the restrictions in the spring and that now it is important to avoid bad government decisions that would provoke aggression from the people.

For this reason, it is important to have a package of business aid and other measures for nursing homes, hospitals to stop the spread of the disease, not to put everything on the shoulders of officials, it would not be prudent. And the communication of the Government is also important, I believe in the conscience of the people and from what I hear the feedback, the majority understand the seriousness of the situation, because each family faces the case of COVID-19, “said the parliamentarian.

“An emergency is a noisy term that has many tools to ignite, but it all depends on political will, it is not necessary to apply everything, until I think we will not accept it.

Now the government has said A, trying to control the virus abruptly before the holidays and the need to restrict the movement of people. OR second “I think they will answer the questions about additional measures, pillows for business,” Saudargas added.

Hundreds of thousands of potential contacts

However, at least in the coming weeks, the public itself will have to demonstrate how long the restrictions will last and what their impact will be.

However, the possibilities for civil servants are not limitless, as both the police and politicians recognize. For example, according to V. Bakas, the first quarantine and especially the Easter weekend showed that one is to decide to apply strict restrictions and the other – to do everything to the end.

“I see the police as a professional, involved in decision-making, and I would like to believe that it will help people, not just repressive measures,” Bakas said.

“The term will be longer and there will be days in which work will be done intensely, roads will be blocked and there will be days when controls will be carried out with less intensity, perhaps mobile inspections will be organized, technical means will be used,” said A. Paulauskas.

He recalled the words of the head of the Ministry of the Interior that the municipal police will organize stationary checkpoints in all municipalities and will control the vehicles that enter. It will run from December 18 at 1:00 p.m. to December 20 at 9:00 p.m. and from December 23 at 1:00 p.m. to 27:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Restrictions on traffic restrictions will also apply from December 31 at 1:00 p.m. until January 3 at 9:00 p.m.

Such ruptures, according to the Police Commissioner, do not mean that the virus will settle in those days, but there are objective reasons.

“These dates are important for the population and it is natural that people look for more opportunities to go to each other, there will be less reasonable trips,” said the official, but then cited much more serious reasons. resources and it would not be efficient ”.

The recognition that the police will not be able to effectively enforce traffic restrictions throughout the period speaks volumes. The figures alone are not great even for Lithuania: in total there will be 250 posts, 900 crews will be on duty, about 1,500. officials. In addition, the police will have to answer routine calls, which are not absent during the holidays, with people sitting in solitary confinement, and where calls are still made in response to illegal concentrations. So is such capacity really enough?

“It just came to our knowledge then. Of course, we will not block all the roads and we will look for ways to descend, but we cannot do anything,” said the official. On the other hand, he recalled that on the Easter weekend, the work of officials can also be seen in impressive numbers.

“Then we made 50 thousand people turn around. vehicles, if we calculate that there was more than one person in each of them, then we can say that hundreds of thousands of people lost the right to contact and took effect, after a while we saw that the number of diseases began to decrease “, he said A. Paulauskas.

According to him, and this time the criterion of reasonableness will be applied, which must be chosen by each official. And although the space can be open to interpretations, excuses, tricks and possible abuses, it will be followed above all by the laws and the instructions of the government: pass.

“Family homeowners must comply with the government resolution and cancel reservations, even though it will negatively affect their business, as the government resolution provides for exceptions and is not infinite and officials will evaluate or comply with those exceptions every time, “he said. A. Paulauskas. According to him, the mentioned exceptions may be places already reserved in sanatoriums in other municipalities, when the reservation voucher is provided, this should be with you.

“When rehabilitation services are provided in a sanatorium, it can be performed by one person, the officials will take this into account, we only recommend having a reservation statement. And in any case, we do not recommend or allow us to go with our grandparents, because we have to avoid these unnecessary contacts and not monitor them, ”the official explained.

For his part, Mr. Saudargas recalled that, as during the previous quarantine, the members of the Riflemen’s Union would also help the police this time.

“The shooters made a great contribution to managing the situation during the first quarantine. Almost 3,000 shooters were mobilized, more than a hundred and a half participated in various activities every day: assistance at airports, quarantine facilities, checkpoints mobile control.

Almost 2,000 people were used over the Easter weekend. “Saudargas said, noting that now the need for help from shooters has increased even more not only in the police, but also in hospitals, where they help doctors who are under a huge burden.” Both there and in the streets with the shooting officers, according to Mr. Saudargo, only auxiliary tasks will also be performed.

“The powers of the shooters are described in the Law of Union of the Parties, how we can provide assistance to the internal affairs system, so that shooters do not write fines or protocols, but do not go out onto the streets without instruction, various courses are organized . “Everything happens humanly, in many cases people react positively, because the shooters wear regulation uniforms, they keep in contact with the police and if there is need or conflicts they can call the police, but these are exceptional cases,” said the parliamentarian and shooter.