Many entrepreneurs are confused about suspending their business during an emergency. Bathers, as well as owners of SPA and beauty salons reminded themselves most actively. In less than a week, they have managed to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures for the initiative to grant them an exemption.
Only half of Covid-19 patients have been diagnosed with an infection site. Of these, 37% fell ill through family contact, almost a quarter at work, and more than a fifth in medical and educational institutions. In turn, only one percent became infected at entertainment events, half a percent – during cultural events, but in 0.2 percent of cases Covid-19 was caught in places of interest education and sports. Therefore, the question may arise – why then the government has ordered the closure of bars, nightclubs, saunas, spas, skating rinks, entertainment centers, beauty salons, and there are a number of other bans? In addition, in some of these businesses, the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC) has not detected foci of Covid-19. However, the decision to close this place is quite simple.
“If you ask now about the place where a person is infected, I would answer that – some do not know where they are infected, they are 50%. The fact that a party cannot tell where they are infected, this virus can meet people anywhere, ”says Yuri Perevoshchikov, director of the Infectious Diseases Risk Analysis and Prevention Department at SPKC.
This is why a non-public health expert emphasizes that many types of business had to be banned.
“It is now believed that the disease is spreading out of control. This means that anywhere in any city, any bystander can already be a source of infection. Starting from this situation, there are also these toughest decisions, ”says Prof. Dr. med., Head of RSU Department of Public Health and Epidemiology Ģirts Briģis.
Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (“New Unity”) explains that as the increasingly strict restrictions gradually introduced throughout the previous weeks have not yielded results in reducing the spread of Covid-19, all non-essential public businesses should be restricted.
“This goal is very basic – to break the disease chain, to limit contact opportunities, and that is the basis of the foundation,” says Kariņš.
The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), which represents the interests of entrepreneurs, does not question or criticize the government’s decision to suspend so many types of business. First, the government has opposed a support mechanism – downtime benefits and a state-paid sick leave from day one. Secondly, getting infected, for example in an entertainment venue or a beauty salon, would mean taking Covid-19 to another, large number of work teams.
Katrīna Zariņa, a member of the LCCI Board, points out: “If this happens quickly, and if large industrial companies, large service companies are forced to stop their activities, it will definitely have a much greater impact on the company and the economy as a whole.”
Experts emphasize that people do not need to worry so much that there are no places to enter, but to critically assess how responsibly they treat the risk of Covid-19 spread.
“If we are worse off now, it is most closely and directly related to human attitudes and actions,” says Briģis.
Zariņš, on the other hand, points out: “What we have observed and what companies say, people are afraid of their jobs. Even if they have signs of the disease, symptoms of respiratory disease, they continue to come to work. ”
In an emergency, all kindergartens and schools were closed in the spring. Now that they continue to work full-time until 7th grade, Covid-19 is spreading across educational institutions to staff and students.
“This is a compromise between sacrificing public health interests a little and going against other interests,” says Briģis.
Since everyone has the opportunity to further infect several other people, the question arises as to whether it would not be sensible to close kindergartens and schools as well.
Professor Uga Dumpis, the chief infectologist of the Ministry of Health, explains: “Children under the age of ten infect others little and also become less infected with each other. However, this is the case in all countries. It is important for these young children to go to school. The question could be about grades 5 and 6. “
Perevoshchikov, for his part, said: “If something happens there, of course, we will have to look at the possibility of additional measures for young children who go to school.”
Earlier, government officials said kindergartens and schools should be kept open, as many parents have nowhere to put their children. But you have to work.
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