Due to record daily numbers of new COVID-19 cases, the Czech government has extended the duration of the current restrictions until January 22. It is the same date when the state of emergency should supposedly end as well. Originally, the countermeasures should have been in place until January 10.
Record Numbers of New Daily Cases
Given the fact that the number of new daily cases has been rapidly increasing again, on Thursday, January 7, the government decided to extend the duration of the current countermeasures until January 22. They were originally supposed to remain in effect until January 10 but in the last few days, it was obvious their duration would have to be extended. Health Minister Jan Blatný believes that the restrictions will take effect on the epidemiological situation within the next week. However, if nothing changes and the situation doesn’t start getting better, not only will the duration of the restrictions be extended even further, but the restrictions may in fact tighten, as the Health Minister revealed. He will likely introduce his colleagues to the countermeasures that have been put into effect in the neighbouring countries where the situation is much better than in the Czech Republic.
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The Minister also warned that without countermeasures the situation in Czechia would be even worse than it was in Italy during the first wave in spring of 2020. According to him, if the number of new cases – and thus also the number of hospitalized people – continues increasing at the same rate as it has until now, doctors may not be able to attend even to people injured in serious car accidents or assist in with difficult births where the life of the mother and child are threatened.
This, of course, also means that ski resorts, hotels and restaurants will remain closed even though many hotel, restaurant and ski resort owners demanded that the government allows them to reopen. This proposal was, however, rejected.
Currently, the Czech Republic remains on level 5 of the PES system. Because of this, there are restrictions on the free movement and gatherings of people, night curfew and most shops and services also have to remain closed, as mentioned before. Besides that, employers must allow their employees to work from home if possible, wearing face masks is mandatory in all public spaces, and only one person per 15 square metres can be present in a store at one time.
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Immunization Progress
One of the most important aspects of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is, of course, immunization of the global population. So far, 20 000 people have been vaccinated in the Czech Republic. The only vaccine that is currently available in the country is the one from Pfizer and BioNTech. This Wednesday the EU approved also the vaccine developed by Moderna and about 20 000 doses of this vaccine should be available in the Czech Republic in January, though the number of ordered doses that was originally higher.
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Sources of the information: Novinky.cz article I, article II and article III, SeznamZprávy.cz
Source of the image: Unsplash.com
I find it appalling that many people I see walking about Mariánské Lázně are not wearing masks even though they pass by within less than 2 meters. Is it any wonder then that the R0 in Czechia is on the increase? Maybe too many people have listened to the bullsh_t that came from Trump about it isn’t bad, it will be gone soon, you do not need to wear masks, and on and on and on with the lies. So glad Trump is done. He is directly linked to involuntary manslaughter causing the deaths in America of over 300,000 precious souls. Why? Because he knew in January that COVID was a very serious threat, yet he maintained it was not a big deal. Go figure!
Hi Dwight,
I agree that this is very appalling. From what I have noticed, the same Czechs that used to subscribe to pro-Russian propaganda now subscribe to conspiracy theories linked to the USA – such as QAnon. It is really sad but there is hardly anything common people could do about it besides protecting themselves and their families even if the others refuse to do so. Hopefully, it will get better soon.
Kind regards,
Anna
Hi Anna,
Yes, too many lies and propaganda coming out of Trumpism, which unfortunately for us Americans who find Republican and ultra-right Evangelical Christian conservatism thought abhorrent, in the minds of many foreign people ties all Americans to this stupidity. I for one and I am not alone, do not subscribe to such fanaticism. Just look at the numbers of the popular vote from the 2020 US election. Biden: 81,284,778 and Trump a paltry 74,224,501. Well not exactly paltry, but it is a major indicator of the level of fanaticism that exists in America. A good friend of mine who lives in America told me after the sick Capital building invasion by insurrectionist Trump and his sick allies that he is 99.99% ashamed of being an American and only .01% proud because he voted for Biden as did the greater majority of Americans who were and are and continue to be very sick of Trumpism.
I could say so much more and it should be noted that not all Christians aspire to this fanaticism; however, most if not all Christians in America aspire to remove the separation of church and state. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/885/establishment-clause-separation-of-church-and-state
The following from this website of which I am in total agreement with:
Establishment Clause (Separation of Church and State): “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
In other words, the people residing in America are free to practice any religion or not at all and that government has no control over how or whether a person does or doesn’t practice any religion. Obviously if any religion a person practices causes injury or imminent harm to others then this is something that needs a level of justice brought to bear. For example, the religion of Trumpism has caused, directly and indirectly, the deaths in America now of an excess of 375,000 dead from COVID. In addition, the lies that spewed forth from Trump caused his followers to not adhere to science-based requirements to slow the spread of COVID, namely the wearing of masks and social distancing. There are many who were Trumpers who were present in Trump’s many ridiculous rallies who are now dead because of Trump’s lies.
Hi Dwight,
it is indeed worying – especially since these things lead, among other things, to a rapid spread of COVID-19 and thus also many fatalities, as you yourself mentioned. However, people like that are in every country and the worse the situation in their country gets, the more obvious this problem becomes.
Anna
Hi Anna,
Hope other people in Czechia get to read this comment.
Good point “the worse the situation in their country gets, the more obvious this problem becomes” because this indicates until saner minds (saner than the general populace who do not believe the science and tend to believe the lies perpetrated by trump) bring to bear relevant measures to bring the pandemic under control countries with such a dichotomy will continue to see increases in infections and deaths.
This YouTube was made on March 23, 2020, but it is so relevant even now with all the people who insist they don’t need to wear masks.
I see it all the time even here in Czechia, some people just don’t seem to give a hoot about themselves and more importantly those around them.
Too many are not wearing masks in public. It is fine if you are out and you do not expect to encounter another human being, but that is usually not the case. The current count in America as of today, 13 January 2021 (which is in first place globally) is at 23,369,732 cases with the death count at 389,621 and rising every hour.
This YouTube is well worth watching. Disregard this doctor’s use of coarse language, he does not hold back.
HOW COVID-19 KILLS–I’m a Surgeon–And Why We Can’t Save You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J0d59dd-qM
Hi Dwight,
I also noticed that even here in the Czech Republic there are many people who refuse to wear face masks in public as if it doesn’t make any difference. No wonder that we still have (and will likely have) strict countermeasures in place if people don’t bother to protect themselves and others. Hopefully, people in both countries, the US and here the Czech Republic, come to their senses so we can live the way we used to again.
Anna