Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, on Thursday the statistics announced a forecast according to which the Czechia will have 70,000 newly infected people by the end of September. What with this? And now we are also asking you as Deputy Prime Minister of the Government Council for Health Risks.
I have been saying for some time that the situation is serious. The first warning came at the end of July, when numbers began to rise slowly. If you remember, at that time I spoke at a press conference and said that the situation was alarming, and I urged citizens not to wait for any regulations and to wear veils voluntarily indoors. I learned that I scare people. But that could not be overlooked.
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Okay, but we’re wondering what to do with it.
It is true that there was a warning here, and it was equally evident that the spread of the virus would turn into an exponential curve at some point, and then it would be very difficult to slow it down. And that’s exactly what happened. The numbers are jumping by thousands a day, so the response of the Ministry of Health in the form of new measures is logical at the moment. Otherwise, the virus cannot be fought. The question is whether the reaction came on time.
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And did she come?
This will show further developments, which I am afraid of.
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The situation is to be controlled by the Ministry of Health. This controls the fight against coronavirus.
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Is the Czech healthcare system ready for such a situation?
According to all calculations, our healthcare system is ready for up to 120,000 infected people.
If it were more, the system would start to collapse.
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Is it a threat?
According to the director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics Dušek, this could happen in the first half of October.
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How do you, as a government, want to prevent this?
In any case, we must flatten the exponential growth curve. And this is only through strict adherence to the regulations, ie veils, veils, veils and not going where there are more people.
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Is the government under control at all?
As we are not in a state of emergency, the situation should be under the control of the Ministry of Health. This controls the fight against coronavirus. From my point of view, we should have changed the switch long ago, when the central crisis staff was to be activated, the measures would be managed centrally according to the crisis law.
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On Wednesday, during the debate in the Chamber after the government, the deputies wanted to hear what his plan is for a deteriorating situation. Is there any?
The plan is not to get into such increases. So keep at all costs under the mentioned 120 thousand infected. As soon as we get through this number and the system starts to collapse, then of course we can strengthen the system for some time, even at the cost of draconian measures, such as the deployment of field hospitals. But at that moment there will be problems with the staff, because with such a number, there will be medics, police officers, firefighters among the infected. Other people will be quarantined.
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A few days ago, Prime Minister Babiš spoke about the Czech Republic being the premier, as we massively test, the number of deaths is small, but it turns out that the opposite is true and the Czechia is one of the risky countries in Europe for other countries. Lied, as the opposition claims?
We were premiants in the spring. We managed the situation thanks to the fact that we quickly pulled the brake. We have seen what is happening in Italy and Spain. We are now in a situation where – if I say this in sad exaggeration – we are showing the Italians and others what will happen if they do not take strict measures.
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A fundamental and fatal mistake has been made in postponing the re-insertion of drapes
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So was it appropriate to relax the measures?
I was skeptical the whole time. I never said the virus was gone, that maybe no second wave would come. Do you remember that I said we live with a tiger in a cage and it’s a question of when he wakes up. And now it has happened and it turns out he has a great appetite.
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Do you know yourself in the measures that are regularly announced so that they change immediately?
Yes, although I understand that it is difficult for someone. The Ministry of Health chose the regional approach that I defended. In the summer, it turned out that we have clusters here, such as the Karviná region, and therefore the principle of traffic lights came up, so the measures were taken regionally. It lasted in the summer, but a fundamental and fatal mistake was made to postpone the re-insertion of the drapes.
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In other words, do you admit that the Hungarian epidemiologist who left the team of the Minister of Health was right?
Whose fault is it that you think was the fatal mistake? Aren’t you discussing this in government? From your answers, it looks like you’re giving your hands away according to the famous self, I’m a musician.
I don’t want to make excuses. It is true that the government decides in the church. However, the regulation we are talking about was not decided by the government, but by a decision of the Ministry of Health. It was originally proposed differently, as advocated by the Hungarian associate professor, and then changed after discussion with the Prime Minister.
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According to the latest measures, the actions are limited to the so-called stand. People are already making fun of it with the fact that they will wear fishing chairs for such events. Is there a difference between sitting or standing in a pub or at a disco?
This is an effort by the Ministry of Health to catch up with some deficits in terms of legislation. If you look at the USA, for example, by law, the city or the competent authority can determine how much is allowed capacity of the company. It’s not here, that’s why the ministry does it through chairs.
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It’s not ideal, but he has to do something. If it was up to me, I would close such businesses at ten in the evening, whether people were sitting or standing in them. But I understand that there is an effort to keep some of these businesses running and not to destroy companies altogether. However, the numbers are so terrible that, in my opinion, the time has come for vigorous action without shutting down the economy.
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Jan Hamáček at a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies
Photo: Jan Handrejch, Law
What do you mean?
Limit social contacts to a maximum. This means canceling mass events, night moves through Prague.
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What should an ordinary person think about statements, when, for example, the epidemiologist Prymula talks about the second wave, the Minister of Health claims that this is not true. The health resort will order the wearing of veils, while well-known medical capacities, such as Professors Pirk or Žaloudík, coincidentally, your senator will downplay and refuse to wear veils. Isn’t there really chaos here, as the opposition claims?
As the Ministry of the Interior, we have prepared some evaluations of the functioning of the spring crisis staff and recommendations on how to proceed.
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However, the government did not discuss it, because the Government Office had reservations about it. One of the recommendations was about strategic communication, where everyone said what they wanted. And today, unfortunately, it continues.
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I understand that such information flies in public space that is difficult to understand. And as for the opponents of the veils you mention, they are not responsible, even though people often trust them. I don’t want to scare anyone, but this is a slide to Italy, America or Israel.
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So you admit the chaos that the government is causing?
From my point of view, standard crisis management should work, which does not work.
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Should the Minister of Health Vojtěch end his position, as the ODS, for example, calls for to do so?
Frankly, it doesn’t matter now. In my opinion, it is crucial that it be managed centrally, according to the crisis law, in cooperation with the governors.
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Yesterday, the Prime Minister agreed to set up a crisis staff, which was called upon by both the governors and the opposition. Did you threaten to resign again?
I am glad that we have reached an agreement with the Prime Minister and that the staff will be able to start working. Many people have called for it and it is good that the standard element of crisis management will be activated.
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Why do you think the Prime Minister refused to revive the staff, when the association of regions also called for it? It is a power struggle YES with soc. dem. and in exaggeration, to say, even with your red sweatshirt?
The Prime Minister has argued that the Government Council for Health Risks is here, but it has met, if I am not mistaken, four times, twice at my request. The crisis staff met non-stop.
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This is not a red sweatshirt at all. If I could compare it to something, it’s like sending firefighters to a fire and equipping them with a firefighter instead of tanks. This is happening here. The government council is a firefighter. The central crisis staff is a tank. In today’s situation, I really cannot imagine what the argument against setting up a crisis staff can be.
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Should there be representatives of the opposition in the crisis staff, as in the spring?
Definitely yes. That worked.
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Isn’t there a danger that, with increasing numbers, we will end up like Israelis who have taken drastic measures in the form of an almost total numbing of life?
This is the last one when there is no other way. But there is nothing behind the lockdown.
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And what about the declaration of a state of emergency that was here in the spring?
The Ministry of Health, with what it announced these days, has more or less reached the edge of what it can by law. Or if it would like to tighten in any way, such as the closure of establishments, etc., it is necessary to declare a state of emergency. It can’t be done without it.
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From next week, Prague will be red at the traffic lights and teaching at local universities will only be a distance form. Should we prepare for the scenario from the spring, when secondary and primary schools were closed not only in Prague, but throughout the Czech Republic?
This is a measure in Prague where the situation is the worst. Of course, school closures work 100% to reduce further carryover. But it’s definitely not something we would deploy now. It would be possible if the situation in a region reached the severity of Prague.
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In two weeks, there will be regional and senate elections. Can the coronavirus situation somehow affect the date of the event, even if the law allowing special voting methods applies?
A possible postponement of elections is the most extreme option. It’s a very complicated thing. Elections can be postponed for a maximum of six months. A state of emergency would have to be declared and at the same time the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate would have to agree on the relevant law.
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As Minister of the Interior, you offered the Prime Minister the assistance of police officers in tracing where capacity is lacking. Did you finally agree after his original rejection?
According to my information, the Minister of Health refused to be fair. It is difficult for me to understand that the ministry refused to allow a hundred police officers to hire thirty customs officers two days later.
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The Czech Post, which falls within the competence of your department, distributed veils and respirators for people over 60 years of age this week. Leaving aside the fact that there have been complaints about their unhygienic packaging, then the question is, are you not worried that it may be partly wasted money? Precisely because some people won’t want to use them and just throw them away?
But we are not responsible for that.
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So who carries it?
I claim that it was Mr. Cikrt (editor-in-chief of Zdravotnické deník) who wrote about it. From our point of view, the Czech Post does not distribute any medical material, but protective equipment. And the law on medical devices does not apply to this at all. So, from my point of view, the control of the State Institute for Drug Control does not apply to that either.
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If you go to buy a veil in a shop today, for example in the village, then in the vast majority of them, these veils are sold in the way that there is a box from which the seller or you can pull the veils. Is anyone discussing this? He doesn’t discuss. If we take this case ad absurdum, then these disposable drapes are packed in fifty pieces, so if the state distributes them, should it throw them away?
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Mr. Cikrt tells us that the entire state material reserves are useless, because according to his interpretation of the law, we can not distribute it other than in fifty pieces. This is exactly how we distributed it in the spring, to police officers, firefighters, and no one even blinked.
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You can read the full text of the interview with Jan Hamáček in Saturday’s Law
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