Asked how the society’s compliance with the established restrictions is assessed, the expert said that according to his observations, there are people who strictly adhere to the established and there are those who partially or not at all observe it. The situation in Riga is “variegated”, and the attitude towards restrictions is not close to what would be expected in an ideal case.
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The observations made in the corner are also confirmed by the conducted surveys. The director of SKDS revealed that a survey conducted three weeks ago found that about half of the respondents thought that Covid-19 was something dangerous and worried about it. However, half of the respondents did not think that Covid-19 was a very dangerous infection. It also results in a desire to observe or not to observe restrictions, said Kaktins.
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In turn, the expert considers the public’s distrust of those in power, including the government and the Prime Minister, to be the biggest problem. Surveys show that the majority of the public does not trust the government, and the latest data show that only one in four people trust the Cabinet. The level of trust in the Parliament is usually even lower.
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“People think that those in power cannot be trusted. People think that there are dishonest lies,” said the director of SKDS, noting that this is partly the reason why people do not follow the rules.
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In the opinion of the expert, in order for all the established restrictions to be observed by the public, one important precondition is important, namely, that those who come up with new restrictions are endowed with authority on public trust.
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He questioned the possibility of enforcing epidemiological restrictions on the general public if the fight against Covid-19 by the incumbent was not seen in the context of public confidence in decision-makers and informants.
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At the same time, Kaktins acknowledged that the issue of trust cannot be resolved quickly and easily. Asked how the government and parliament should deal with this issue, the expert said that in his opinion, in the current situation, it might be wise to give up his monopoly of power a little.
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Explaining in more detail, Kaktins pointed out that decision-makers need to involve the social partners, organizations, as well as local governments more, because they have a much higher level of trust. Then, in his view, government decisions would have a “different format” involving a wider range of people with a higher level of trust than the government.
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It has already been reported that due to the spread of Covid-19, a state of emergency has been declared in the country since 6 November, which has led to a number of restrictions, including on public events and gatherings. There is also a requirement to use mouth and nose pads in many public places. The main authorities that control compliance with these restrictions are the State Police and municipal police.
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On Saturday, 414 new cases of Covid-19 were discovered in Latvia, but four cases of the new coronavirus died. To date, a total of 16,975 people have contracted Covid-19 in Latvia, 1,719 people have recovered and 197 have died, according to data compiled by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
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