Some people in the Karviná region complain that it is not possible to get a private test and have to go to other cities because of this, which of course increases the potential risk of the disease being introduced to other districts in the region. Why is it not possible to pay for a coronavirus test in the currently most affected region? What do you think about it and will you solve it somehow?
We have a meeting in Ostrava on Thursday, where the Minister will also be present, and these matters will certainly be resolved. It is more a question of the region, because there is no ministry directly run by the ministry. However, there is a clear need for some commercial testing and people not having to go elsewhere because of this, as this increases the risk of the disease spreading.
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However, as far as those private providers of these services are concerned, it may be that when their number of samples decreased, they reduced or eventually abolished those capacities. We have to look at it. One thing is who takes the sample, and the other, where it goes then, must be an accredited laboratory. When there are a small number of samples, and you consume a relatively large protective clothing, it costs you a lot of money.
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From Wednesday, the opening hours for restaurants, bars and discos will be lifted. This does not apply to the Karviná region, but I have also noticed that the regulation continues to apply to Prague. How exactly is it? Can Prague companies be open without restrictions?
The restriction no longer applies to Prague. The only thing that remains in Prague are the veils in the metro and the veils for internal mass events of over 100 people. We will, of course, be very tense if nightclubs and discos do not worsen the epidemiological situation, but that is the way it is. It had to come one day. Restrictions on the opening hours of restaurants and clubs apply only to the Karviná region.
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The vast majority of restaurants no longer cook after 11 pm and outdoor gardens were allowed, so the restaurants could more or less function as standard.
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Why the end of the opening hours at 11 pm and the opening of the opener in the Karviná region from six o’clock in the morning to eight o’clock? In the words of some jokers on social networks and with exaggeration: does the coronavirus not spread after 11 pm?
It must be said that the restriction is specifically targeted at nightclubs and discos. The aim was to reduce nightclubs, bars and discos, where the spread has already taken place around the world, and which we consider to be risky in terms of the spread of the virus. It is considered that in nightclubs and discos there are no gaps. When alcohol consumption is increased, no one forces those people to follow something. In addition, the vast majority of restaurants no longer cook after 11 pm and outdoor gardens were allowed, so the restaurants could more or less function as standard.
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According to lawyers, it is not possible otherwise and it is not possible to do it other than through that time window. These companies are not defined separately in the law and fall under the catering establishments.
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So restaurant and pub operators are actually paying for legislation that doesn’t distinguish restaurants from discos? And what about the six o’clock in the morning?
Yes. I was a big opponent of time windows, also because it’s misinterpreted. But lawyers have repeatedly told us that it is not possible otherwise.
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As for the six o’clock in the morning and the shift in the Karviná region, it is due to the fact that the miners, who roam around 6:00, go to the pub to gather in a pub for a beer. They won’t wait two hours, so it’s minimized that the virus doesn’t eventually spread in the pub.
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With a few exceptions, Czechs no longer have to wear veils in public transport. However, air conditioning is in the means of transport and its role in spreading the virus has been much discussed before. How is it? If we don’t have veils, should it be turned off to minimize the risk, or do you think it’s not necessary?
I don’t think air conditioning is that extreme. It’s mainly about the direct interpersonal transmission over a distance of two meters. It’s not that the virus is flying all over the vehicle due to air conditioning. In addition, there are some filters that can capture those particles in some way. Air conditioning may have a role to play, but it will certainly not be dominant. However, I would not turn it off in the current climate, because it could cause more problems than benefits. People, cardiac patients, asthmatics could collapse in the heat.
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On the contrary, you have tightened measures in the Karviná region. Did you also admit the restriction of movement, how much this is a realistic option and what would have to happen for you to take this step?
We are all aware that this variant is on the table, but we did not discuss it seriously. There is no reason for that now. ÚZIS (Department of Health Information and Statistics – editor’s note) created a scale from 1 to 10, and our working group fit anti-epidemiological measures on this scale. The restriction on movement is eight. Nine would be a regional tightening of everything, because ten already means that intensive care units are occupied to a large extent.
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Where would the newly introduced measures in the Karviná region rank on the scale?
Now we’re around six. Of course, it fluctuates. They will be tested by randomly selecting other mines, so there will be some cases and it will fluctuate again. Those who are positive now will end up in quarantine, their contacts will be traced, but overall the situation should calm down. The situation should also stabilize thanks to the requirement of a negative confirmation of covid for foreigners who commute across the border to work in the Czech Republic.
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You have outlined future developments. What do you think will follow now, how will the situation develop?
Frýdek-Místek will calm down and measures could be relaxed there, maybe even earlier. Karviná will probably still remain within the fluctuating ones. How it will be, but we’ll see. It’s not just about the numbers, so how many cases, but it’s also about the nature of the whole situation.
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This is not the second wave. It is explicitly one outbreak.
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Now the situation is such that the limit of one thousand cumulatively infected people has been exceeded in the Karviná region. It happened in about a month and in the last few days the daily increments reached the number of two or three hundred. Is this the beginning of the second wave?
This is not the second wave. It is explicitly one outbreak of the disease that has been smoldering for some time, and now it has been figured out by extensive testing of miners. They would not de facto know that they are positive, because most of them are asymptomatic or mild, the same is true for most family members. It is important to monitor the virus for infections and does not increase hospitalizations. But this is not happening and we are trying to keep everything under some conditions, because the region is still tied to OKD. We do not want to interfere in the life of the whole society unless there is a fundamental reason to do so.
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Of course, we realize that due to the incubation period, when the patient is already infectious, we have a time loss of 14 days and whatever we do now, it will show in two weeks. If we started to slow down, it would show in 4 to 6 weeks, and during that time we would watch the situation worsen, without the possibility of influencing it. This would mean that the virus has entered the community and is spreading.
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According to Minister Adam Vojtěch (for YES), however, it is already a community spread.
Certainly there is community spread, but it is minimal. When you subtract the miners, it is negligible. The virus entered the home of the elderly, infected a few medics, but these are really only isolated cases.
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We believe that measures such as those in Uničov and Litovel will not have to be taken.
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If the situation worsened and the number of those infected continued to rise, is a similar scenario on the table as in the case of Litovel and Uničov, ie the complete closure of the area?
We hope it won’t be needed. Uničov and Litovel were at the very beginning, since then we have gained a lot of experience, test capacities have expanded, a smart quarantine has been launched. All this was to mean that such a closure did not have to be repeated. We believe that this will not have to happen.
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Speaking of closures, the primary focus in the Karviná region is the mines, are you thinking and have you discussed a possible temporary closure of the mines?
We are convinced that closing for two or three weeks will not solve anything fundamental. Sooner or later, the virus may reappear there, so we try to keep it active and test it so that it doesn’t have to close. However, if the situation was not under control despite all efforts, it would be one of the solutions. And I think that all parties are already aware of this, which is why OKD is trying to set up processes so that dissemination occurs as little as possible.
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OKD has tested it twice, now random testing is being prepared in other mines. Is it sufficient, wouldn’t it be useful to test massively outside the mines, in the district?
I think testing must have some concept. Massive testing for tens of millions of crowns, because those tests are expensive, and in most cases they turn out to be negative, that is a waste of money. We must behave sensibly. We try to test systematically and it turns out that it should be tested around known cases of infection, very actively search for their contacts and test all symptomatic people.
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