Exactly a year ago, laboratories reported between two and three thousand positive cases on weekdays. About five times more than this year. The then Minister Roman Prymula (for YES) gradually introduced restrictions on activities and contacts. According to him, this year the risk of another strong wave is minimal.
“I think we need to get back to normal. Testing is important only where there will be some regional accumulation of cases, but no longer in a widespread regime, “said the former Minister of Health and the director of the hospital in Říčany Prymula.
There were almost eight hundred patients with covid in the hospitals a year ago. Today less than two hundred. The difference in people in severe condition is then sevenfold. According to experts, it is a combination of vaccination and population immunization.
“Most diseases are in young people”
“If we look at the fact that most diseases are currently in young people under the age of thirty, and this group is the least vaccinated of all so far, it clearly shows that vaccination had a significant positive effect,” said the chairman of the Czech Vaccine Society Roman Chlíbek .
Epidemiologists expected an increase in those infected after the start of the school year this year. Now the start of university education can come into play. “I would definitely not bet that they will be considerate of each other and that they will not meet in larger quantities in a small space. It is definitely necessary to be very careful both in teaching and in life in dormitories, at least until the middle of October, “says Petr Pazdiora, an epidemiologist at the Medical Faculty of Charles University in Pilsen.
Unlike last year, the addressed experts now see no reason for stricter measures. And they do not perceive a milder regime for children’s groups as risky. According to Chlibek, it is important that people do not underestimate the symptoms of a respiratory infection in children and do not send them to a team in such a case. According to epidemiologists, there is no danger that the Czechia would expect a scenario of a sharp increase in cases even in the majority vaccinated society.
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Changes in measures for children and students
The new rules for pupils and students will come into force on Thursday. They will not have to present a certificate of infectivity during joint visits to zoos, museums or exhibitions, but they must be a group from one school. The obligation will also be waived for joint stays. And also for leisure groups of more than 20 children when it comes to regular participants.
Until now, for leisure activities where more than twenty children gathered, the organizer had to require proof of infectivity. In practice, however, according to some organizers, this meant complications, also because the children no longer had a negative test from school.
Like actors or musicians, for example, members of Kühn’s children’s choir must have a certificate of infectivity during generals and performances. Monday’s rehearsal of Bohuslav Martinů’s Špalíček was no exception.
So far, however, child singers have had to carry proof of vaccination, illness or a negative test for regular rehearsals, which they usually have in the school auditorium. “When it was tested in schools, it was of course easier for both us and our parents. Children have an exam twice, three times a week, for example, they have another circle, sports or whatever. They also need the test there. I think it’s starting to be practically impossible, “said Michaela A. Dobrovolná, executive director of Kühn’s children’s choir.
In the Pilsen leisure center, therefore, so far only children who train for competitions in smaller groups, where infectivity is not needed, have trained. But they want to open the whole offer of rings. They were waiting for the decision of the Ministry of Health, which announced on Monday that the tests would not be needed from September 30.
“We have huge groups of twenty or more children here. I can’t imagine how we would divide them, “said Ivana Pokorová, head of the Pallova workplace, Radovánek Leisure and Youth Center.
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“Half solution”
The new rules will also apply to school groups. For example, schoolchildren from Šumava went to see the animals on Monday. “So that the children also have an experience and enjoy the school differently, we are on an excursion to the zoo,” explains Jana Čurdová, a teacher from the primary school and kindergarten in Hořice na Šumavě.
On the next trip, for example to a museum or exhibition, no one will want proof of infectivity. But it must be a group from one school. If students meet, for example, a theater performance with children from another facility, a test will be needed.
“It simply came to our notice then. Since mid-August, we have been calling for the unification system of testing in schools and for leisure activities to be unified, “says Aleš Sedláček, chairman of the Czech Council for Children and Youth.
However, other restrictions continue to apply. So if young singers come with their parents to see a performance in which they are not performing, they will have to have a certificate of test, illness or vaccination in addition to the ticket.
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