Unpublished merchants: we are no longer convinced by the government’s arguments

Promised and disappointed

R. Vainienė says that before the Government decided to release the quarantine restrictions, in the meeting with the Government representatives, the merchants were promised that they could open on April 12.

“We had a meeting with representatives of the government – the prime minister, the ministers of economy and innovation and health – the previous Friday, and at the beginning of that meeting, the prime minister said that there was a planned opening for the government to consider on Wednesday. On the 12th ”, said R. Vainienė in the program“ Events of the week ”.

“The fear that this is still a conditional decision, if the situation does not get worse, may have been inferred somewhere in between, but it was not mentioned out loud,” he emphasized.

In his opinion, the reason for not opening it was probably the data published on Wednesday, which showed a jump in about 300 cases, although the government was expected to be prepared for it.

“We hoped that the government would be ready and we assess that the situation could get worse, but nevertheless open trade,” said the director of the Lithuanian Association of Business Companies.

Few virus outbreaks

R. Vainienė doubts that the operation of shopping malls will have a significant impact on the growth of the number of cases.

“Most of the trade has worked and the epidemiology does not correlate with that. Caterers always acted and the curve fluctuated. <…> 75 percent. companies are food companies. They have the most stores and these are the most visited outlets. In pre-pandemic times, a million shoppers came to those stores every day, the flow decreased during the pandemic, but now it is recovering again: 700-800 thousand. shoppers on a daily basis.

What mixing flow can be increased by the remaining 5 percent? tests, disinfection, ventilation, regulation of the flow of employees of companies in supermarkets that offer a larger surface per customer ”, considered R. Vainienė.

According to her, most commercial workers are infected outside the workplace and there are few in commercial chimney companies.

R. Vainienė also recalled that large supermarkets offer additional measures on how trade can be opened.

“Supermarkets have been told to do their homework as it reduces that appeal. And they presented it to an independent council of health experts, who determined that it is safe to work with such security measures, ”said R. Vainienė.

“Traders say that now everyone is saving as much as they can. It is very unpleasant to see the open emergency door, which shows the entrance from the outside in any ingenious way, ”he added.

According to R. Vainienė, there are no arguments why all trading cannot be opened at this time.

“They told us that mobility should be reduced, but now the prohibition of circulation between municipalities has been lifted, all in Palanga. We no longer have enough arguments. We are not convinced, ”said the director of the Lithuanian Trade Companies Association on the“ Events of the week ”program.