They haven't misunderstood.

You just took prioritized to mean time.

Doug was specifically referring to it not being subject to other restrictions that are in place during lockdown.
He made no mention of timescales.

I would agree that OpenReach are treating loss of service as a priority over other faults, like a drop in speed.
It doesn't mean they will be quicker than usual, but that they haven't completely suspended visits.

Openreach have deprioritised other things, they have not increased the priority - eg they have not prioritised repairs.

They have no better or worse a priority than before the pandemic.