Shops and services have reopened, but the numbers to the infection are not declining, and in fact, with a two-week delay, they show the situation before the disintegration. Are you not afraid of further deterioration of the situation?
Of course we are worried about this, it would be irresponsible if we did not have it. We see that the situation has improved, there is no doubt about that, we are at level 3 of the anti-epidemic system PES, on the other hand it is not improving as fast as we all expected.
–
But the important thing is that we followed the PES scheme. When we look at the surrounding countries, Poland, although pandemically worse off than we are, opened last weekend. Slovakia has also opened, Austria is opening in the coming days, Germany is open. We cannot keep the economy closed indefinitely. In shops, relatively strict rules apply. On Thursday, I visited some shopping centers, restaurants and I must say that the operators and customers really try and follow the rules. But we would be much calmer if we saw that the trajectory of the decline continues, but so far it is stagnant.
–
In Austria and Germany, however, the restaurants will remain closed until the beginning of January …
In Germany, the restaurants are still held, we made them in a relatively strict regime. It’s not about drinking, gathering more people, there can be a maximum of four people at the table and the restaurant can be filled to half its capacity. The rules are stricter and we will see how it develops.
–
We see the stories of tens of thousands of tradesmen, family businesses, who have been building for twenty or thirty years and are practically about to fail. They are not in a position to stand it for a while.
—
It is an extremely difficult decision. On the one hand, we see that we need to get out of it, and we are still not out of it, on the other hand, we see the stories of tens of thousands of tradesmen, family businesses who have been building for twenty or thirty years and are practically about to fail. They are not in a position to stand it for a while. They are in a situation where every other week, when they should be closed, means for them the loss of roofs over their heads, outstanding loans and human tragedies. We have to see it from all angles. Now it’s one thing: to follow those rules.
–
We have open restaurants as one of the few countries, aren’t you afraid that crowds of foreigners will come for fun?
It is not so easy to travel, they would have to have tests and the mode is set precisely because so many people cannot fit inside. It doesn’t matter if a customer from country A or B is sitting there. The important thing is that the restaurant can no longer fit more people than we have ordered. Ten people can’t sit at a table. Today it’s about going to a restaurant, having lunch, a beer and leaving, it’s not for a long sitting.
–
If the situation worsens, is there a risk that shops and restaurants will have to close again before Christmas?
One must imagine everything today. We are at a time that has not been here for a hundred years since the pandemic. Since World War II, virtually no one has dared to close the economy, culture, sports. We will have to react if the third wave comes in the winter, just as we did in the spring and autumn. Now we’re doing everything we can to keep her from coming. Despite the criticism that has been and continues to be felt against us, we must make factual decisions.
–
I am convinced that in the autumn we applied the handbrake in time, because thanks to that we broke the curve and the hospitals withstood the onslaught. There were countries that could not do it. I don’t deny that it was on the edge, but it worked. Now we have a working smart quarantine, we want to test. We have before us a wave of free antigen testing for both teachers and other residents.
–
We want to motivate companies to test employees with antigen tests. We are further today than we were in spring and autumn. If we follow the rules, there is a chance that we will stay in the third stage. If not, if everyone trivializes it and makes fun of it, then there is a risk that we will get back to category number four.
–
The ski resorts are covered with snow, but skiers are also waiting for when and how they will be able to start operation. After the turnaround from this week, the date of December 18 fell yesterday. But what will be the conditions?
We will probably deal with it definitively on Monday. We have a manual of the so-called regime in ski resorts with regard to the resorts themselves, rental shops, ski and snowboard schools, obligations of protective equipment on cable cars, disinfection program, various types of sales from season tickets to meals. It is a perfectly prepared manual, we were very inspired in Austria.
–
The whole debate about the PES system is that it is not 100% fair to everyone.
—
The point now is to agree that the manual is so acceptable. By doing it with hygiene, I think that in the final we will get the approval of the Minister of Health Jan Blatný.
–
As in the Austrian model, would this mean closing the restaurants, bistros and accommodation in mountain resorts again?
We cannot say that, there will be a discussion on Monday. We have different variants.
–
What makes skiing more risky than visiting shopping centers that have already opened?
The whole debate about the PES system is that it is not 100% fair to everyone. Today, cinemas, other sports activities, theaters and the like can also argue today. Since the introduction of the PES system, we have said one thing, and that is that we cannot let go of everything one hundred percent.
–
We cannot say that the possibility of infection in this area is the same as in others, so we release it too, then we would release everything except the absolute exceptions. We are in a situation where we still have to regulate the mobility of people. We followed absolute priorities and those were education, shops and services. We are gradually adding more.
When it comes to ski resorts, let’s not underestimate it. I am in favor of opening up, we want to convince medics. But it’s not just about the cable car, the front, the associated services. Everyone knows what a canteen or a snack under the cable car looks like, how it exhales there, how people are glued together.
–
Let’s move on to the next topic. You got police security on Wednesday, for what reason?
Security was not at my request, it was assigned to me on the basis of clear and unambiguous indications that there was a certain danger. It was substantiated. This follows universally from my work in the field of energy, transport and telecommunications.
It must be said that we are relatively uncompromising and we are trying to cut off any groups of influences, we have done a great deal of work in both the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transport in the sense that those who were used to moving there like fish in water and winning interesting contracts today simply do not have them.
–
Of course, I am quite an easy target for a number of speculators and interest groups, from solaring through gas areas to commissioning transport structures or telecommunications activities. So far, I have protection indefinitely and we will see how the situation develops.
–
You also launched an e-shop for electronic motorway signs on traffic this week. The first day it rubbed a lot, now it’s running smoothly?
We’re happy, it works well. The system is safe, fast, modern and I have a good feeling that what we have done in ten months has brought such a result. We saved the state 500 million crowns.
–
I’m sorry about that first day. Around six o’clock in the morning, we were worried that the system was infected, because there were about two thousand clicks in a second, so we turned it off. During the day, everything was checked, it was probably a technical error, it was fixed and it started that day.
–
Of course, it annoys me, because we were attacked for it, even though no one lost anything. We did it thirty days in advance, and it is a pity that we smeared all zeros that never created anything and only criticize.
–
I pushed for it to start on December 1st. If we waited another two days, it could be absolutely ideal. But more importantly, it works. I can bear the criticism. In a way, the more the opposition criticizes, the greater confirmation that we are not doing it completely wrong.
–
| You can read the whole interview with Minister Havlíček, in which he also answers questions about the termination of coal mining or the completion of Dukovany, in the Saturday issue of the daily Právo. |
—
