Dumpis criticizes the government for its attitude in the summer and says it would vote in favor of introducing a state of emergency

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Dumpis believes that what is happening abroad makes Latvia think seriously and not be bold, even though Latvia’s indicators still look polite against the European background.

Latvia must be very, very careful not to end up in a situation like, for example, the Czech Republic or Slovenia.

“I would vote in favor of all means of breaking this curve and reducing the number of infections. If it requires an emergency, I would vote for it,” Dumpis said.

As regards the effectiveness of the restrictions imposed by the government, Dumpis explained that it was not possible to say precisely whether the restrictions were insufficient or simply not sufficiently complied with. “I think that these restrictions were gentle and insignificant compared to other countries, but also the same ones, as we know, were not observed very diligently. If the people of Latvia complied with these restrictions and the basic principles of distance, then we should not think about other restrictions,” the specialist said.

Dumpis also believes that the Latvian government has taken its external threat too seriously – “all summer long against flights and borders”. This was done for economic reasons, although the position of health experts has always been conservative, the infectologist said.

Europe has now realized that public mobility and travel was one of the main reasons why Europe is in the current situation, Dumpis said.

Adding to what Dumps said, Liene Cipule, director of the Emergency Medical Service (NMPD), pointed out that Latvia may have expected a long-term low morbidity curve and hoped that the public would be involved in reducing the infection. However, when assessing the capacity of hospitals, it was probably necessary to work with forecasts in the summer much faster and more aggressively.