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Prime Minister Živilė Gudlevičienė’s advisor named the government’s goals in her decision, at the time Paulius Skruibis, a member of the Advisory Council of Experts and a psychologist, said that solidarity cannot be expected if they do not see the solidarity of the elderly whose restrictions are too much difficult to meet for so long.
For his part, the political scientist Šarūnas Liekis stated that the government’s decision hostile to the Prime Minister would not cost the Prime Minister as many popularity points as it would cost him not to control the pandemic.
Negative signs
The prime minister’s adviser on health policy, Živilė Gudlevičienė during the “Žinių radijo” program, said that the government’s decisions on Friday were made with two purposes: to restrict movement before the holidays, to achieve a higher percentage of vaccinated people .
“The aim is to reduce the movement in this period, when, let’s face it, people are already preparing to celebrate Easter, and in more gatherings than we have been asking all along,” Ž.Gudlevičienė said.
According to her, the government has called for accountability, but now there is an increase in movement, a faster increase in the number of infections. “We are seeing more vaccines arriving, so the second objective is to achieve a higher vaccination rate during that period,” said the adviser to the prime minister.
Less restrictions
At the time, Paulius Skruibis, director of the Suicidology Research Center at the VU Psychology Institute, a member of the Expert Advisory Council, said that some of society’s restrictions would no longer be respected because they last a long time.
However, according to him, the majority of the public sees these quarantine restrictions as inevitable, not because the Government instructs it, but because of the increasing number of coronavirus cases, the flow of patients in hospitals.
“I’m also thinking of December, when the government made important and necessary decisions, but people also took them into account because they saw 4,000. The number of cases per day that hospitals were full, so most people had the perception that “So what to do, what is the alternative?” Evaluated a psychologist on the radio news program.
However, according to P. Skruibis, research shows that the psychological well-being of the population is worse, people are tired and inevitably begin to treat restrictions “more broadly”.
“It is a challenge for the government as it takes a long time, but to choose only those restrictions that can be realistically observed. I heard from our discussions on the Advisory Board that ‘if we look more freely somewhere, people will stop at all.’
But when those restrictions become requirements that are very, very difficult to meet, you can meet for a week or two, but once they are in place for three or four months, what happens then? One person violates a restriction, then the second and third.
I think it is important that there are as few restrictions as possible, only those that are really the most necessary, ”said P. Skruibis.
For his part, Ž.Gudlevičienė pointed out that only one was restored: the restriction of movement between municipalities, the adoption of minimal measures, the quarantine is not tightened, the activities are not closed again.
Problems of solidarity and injustice
P. Skruibis also warns that some people have not been able to participate in his activities for a year, so the issue of solidarity becomes very important in this case.
“On the same vaccination, we will still get to a point where it will be clear that we can no longer leave people closed.” If people, especially older people at risk, refuse to be vaccinated, it will be difficult to expect solidarity from the rest of society, because that solidarity has existed for years.
And now solidarity is needed on their part so that they can be vaccinated and that the rest of society can return to normal life as well. Because you can’t keep people closed for another year, not even half a year, “said P. Skruibis.
The anger of the population is also noted by the fact that a person cannot go to another region of the country, but can fly to another state. According to P. Skruibis, not only is the decision itself important, but also its impartiality: if people accept it as correct.
“I think it’s obvious that if people think they can fly but can’t go to a nearby area, it seems to them, and they can’t say it looks bad, that’s the wrong decision.
However, it is very important to consider the aspect of justice when making decisions. Perhaps just a nuance, as far as I can understand the logic of this decision, I do not say that it is necessarily correct, but all trips to other countries come with the obligation to test, isolate (…) – summarized the psychologist.
Not the most expensive solution
Šarūnas Liekis, a political scientist at Vytautas Magnus University (Vytautas Magnus University), told the Lithuanian morning TV show “New Day” that the patience and ability of society to comply with the renewed restrictions depends on the individual situation of each person, but the visible attacks show that patience is necessary. ebb.
“Patience is obviously individual, different people react differently. But we are already seeing the phenomenon that people are losing patience: attempted rallies, walks without masks, one or another thug attack. All of these things manifest as individual and group loss of patience.
We must not forget that people have different conditions: there are some who live in a country house, others live in a twelve-story apartment building, so the feeling of the situation is very different, ”said Š.Liekis.
When asked if the economic effect of the pandemic could lead to larger protests, the political scientist said it would be helpful for the government to verify the financial situation of individual Lithuanian family farms.
“Until now, we have not seen statistics on the macroeconomic situation of families, the level of poverty, we have not seen the state of society,” said Š.Liekis.
According to him, considering the change in the financial situation of family farms, the actual financial situation would be a good indicator of whether the protest mood will be, how strong it will be.
It is a politically correct movement
At the time, evaluating Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė’s move to ask the public to suffer more, Š. Liekis claimed it was a politically necessary step.
“I am glad to hear such an empathetic speech from the Prime Minister, the desire for people to cooperate with the State, as if to apologize that we are forced to do so by circumstances and that it is still done so that our elderly grandparents live longer. and happier. “
Regardless of how much this unpopular decision will cost the prime minister, according to Š.Liekis, the ruling majority would suffer much more if the pandemic was not managed.
“That message is not easy for tired Lithuanian citizens and voters. From today’s point of view, any sharp deterioration in government would mean a certain political burden, which is not very popular, it is under constant pressure.
However, in this political fight, which is carried out through the COVID-19 government, everything must be results-oriented in any case: the winner, even in the political sense, will be the one who controls the pandemic. We have to focus not on bureaucratic convenience and ease, but on how to get the best result: how to vaccinate as many Lithuanians as possible so that people feel that the state is in control of the crisis, ”said Š.Liekis.
