Veryga: movement between cities may be restricted during Christmas, but no curfew is required

The main reason

The government’s COVID-19 steering committee will meet Monday to discuss the proposed tightening of the quarantine, a record number of new coronavirus cases after the weekend. According to A Veryga, decisions can be made from Monday.

According to the politician, the main objective of these adjustments is to reduce people’s meeting opportunities.

“The main objective of the adjustment is to reduce the places where people gather and gather, where the risk is high. Those proposals are not accepted, but the principle itself is to limit as much as possible people to meet, communicate and leave it only where or really can protect people from transmitting the virus through personal protective equipment. Or when it is impossible to avoid work, “said the acting minister.

The minister also has a position on the growing mention of inequalities in tightening. Beauty treatments, according to A. Veryga, are much safer than sports activities.

“It just came to our attention then. This is an activity where breathing is very intense and the possibility of dispersion of aerosols, even with personal protective equipment, is very high. We will not compare it to manicure or haircut, because the risk it is incomparably less if the tools are used correctly ”, explained the acting Minister of Health.

A. Veryga recalled that people can also play sports outdoors.

You can read about the proposed quarantine tightening here.

No choice

After the first quarantine, the authorities hoped that the economy would no longer have to stop as in the spring. But at least some alternative proposals will be on the interim government table on Monday. Veryga maintains that the situation simply does not allow these actions to be ignored.

“In the spring, especially after the small number we had, after the statements that the quarantine was perhaps too strict, not only Lithuania tried to avoid these measures in every possible way: complete closure of businesses, suspension of the educational process. These are measures that have other very important side effects. (…) But what we see in the number of medical institutions and epidemiologists, they don’t leave many options, ”he said.

The cabinet on Monday should decide between several alternative proposals: increase the area allocated to a buyer or close non-essential stores.

“The third proposal was also presented in the presidency: stop working on weekends or limit the time to 17 hours. There are a variety of options, but the goal is the same: keep people together as little as possible. We see that despite all the numbers, people are still gathering, we also see photos of the party on social media.

Unfortunately, there is no other option. If it is not possible to stop with the measures that are in force now, new measures are needed, “said the acting Minister of Health.

He said treatment facilities are already overcrowded and coronavirus patients are being treated at the expense of the health of other patients.

“It’s really bad,” said the politician.

Movement restrictions are possible during Christmas

New cases of coronavirus are reaching new records. Regarding the interim Health Minister, the upcoming holidays are worrying. So even then, stricter solutions are needed, not just recommendations.

“Regardless of who will be in government and who will not, the epidemiological logic will not change much, regardless of who is in power. Looking at the numbers, and especially the numbers that we saw before the weekend, if the situation did not improve, I would be pessimistic and would say that up to 4 thousand cases we can expect in one day.

With such a number and with such a load of hospitals, I don’t think there are many options during the festive period to take the same measures that were taken at Easter. Delphi A. Veryga said Monday morning.

He said the late weekend has already shown that people are unwilling to follow simple recommendations. Then it will be necessary to control their movement.

So the situation was handled well, of course, and people listened and behaved differently. We saw a completely different image on Late Night, although the recommendations were the same as on Easter, only the firewall was not up, people were moving a lot.

It is in view of such attitude, behavior, there will not be many options. In addition to the stay-at-home calls, additional steps may need to be taken. Apparently, it will be necessary to monitor whether people really follow them or decide to travel unnecessarily, ”said the acting Minister of Health.

The principles of managing a pandemic have not worked

After the first wave, in the summer, the rulers were delighted to overcome this challenge perfectly. However, in the autumn the situation was different, some of the applied principles simply did not work.

“There are many reasons and components. In the spring, we were one step ahead in many places before something happened. (…) And the autumn was a completely different scenario, they tried to apply a different strategy, stop applying massive measures to the whole country, and respond to the problems. We also had the beginning of the traffic light, which we saw from Europe. But it did not work not only for municipalities but for all parties. When all of Europe is red, what is that traffic light, what does it mean? “Said Delfi, the acting Health Minister.

“We understand that this strategy has not worked. There are many reasons why this happened, and the fatigue, the mistrust, the fall itself and the cold weather, when people were going home, children, to schools. There are many reasons why it is different now than in the spring, “said the minister.

According to A. Veryga, the situation in the country at the moment is simply bad.

“Now people have relaxed, now there is another wave of fear, because it is difficult to find a family that does not have loved ones exposed to the coronavirus. “It is not very comforting, the situation is bad,” said the interlocutor.

No curfew needed yet

Increasingly, experts are beginning to talk about the possibility of introducing a curfew in the country. Still, it requires a state of emergency. According to A. Veryga, it is not necessary yet.

“It just came to our knowledge then. Because you will agree that young people are also looking and finding ways to meet up, where to go and spend that time together. It would be a curfew to avoid such things. Because if you are going somewhere at night, you will need to explain yourself, ”he said.

The politician explained that a possible curfew would solve only part of the problem.

“She is unnecessarily absolute, she will not solve everything. This is not, it will not solve, it is one of the measures that would contribute to some extent to manage the situation. We must understand that the introduction of the curfew requires a state of emergency.

Do we really understand what it is? Of course, the countries that apply the curfew are there, and the legal regimes are different, perhaps an emergency situation will allow them to do everything. (…) If we talk about commanders who would appear in the municipalities. Is there really a situation now that you need it? Perhaps, but it seems that after speaking with the experts on Sunday, how much that optimism has diminished, because it is not the state of war now that is needed ”, – in his opinion Delphi given by A. Veryga.

As an example, the interim minister provided an Easter weekend in which, in addition to the imposition of the state of emergency, there would be stricter restrictions on movement.

He explained why he did not attend the meeting.

On Sunday, Acting Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and Health Minister A. Veryga received much criticism for not participating in the meeting of the Council of Health Experts organized by the Presidency.

According to the politician, he does not understand the resulting wave of anger. Representatives from the Ministry of Health (SAM) attended Sunday’s meeting and presented the proposed measures.

“No, we did not attend. But I really do not understand why that Sunday meeting with the experts is so important. Our representatives were present. And on Friday back, we made it clear that the situation is complicated and without an expert meeting we are seeing numbers, we realize that the quarantine is now inadequate. We have even introduced the planned measures. I really don’t understand where so much anger is coming from here, “said A. Veryga.

The acting minister said anger comes more from emotions.

Surely we do not refuse to communicate, we communicate, our people participate, we present the tools we offer. Even more so when we see that there are no great differences between these measures. But there are no fundamental differences. I understand that there is more emotional dissatisfaction and anger here, but I don’t understand it much. ” Delphi A. Veryga said Monday morning.