Czech Republic - this is what happens when Covid isn't taken seriously

[CrunchyCarrot]

Just watched this video made by Dr John Campbell yesterday. He had a Czech guest speaker who gave a presentation of the events that have happened in the Czech republic since February. It really is pretty shocking and shows what can happen when people, so-called 'experts' and governments don't take the virus and getting it under control seriously.

Do watch it if you can, especially if you think the virus is a hoax or that we don't need to bother wearing masks or locking down. The Czechs now face a potential overwhelming of their hospital bed capacity within a few weeks as their cases are exponentially rising. Many of their medical staff are now off due to illness, which means they're going to have to rely on doctors coming in from other countries such as Germany to help out, thereby putting more pressure on health care systems in those countries.

If you want to listen to the preamble to the presentation, it's here:

[scaevola]

I've just looked on ECDC's rolling 14 day page

Czechia at present has the highest level of all European countries with 1210.8 cases per 1000. (There is only one other country over 1000, Belgium). The Czech death rate of 10 per 100,000 is however twice that of any other country.

But a couple of weeks ago, Czech figures weren't so much worse than anywhere else, and other countries had the worse death rates. I wonder if his the figures look today is a reflection of how quickly a spike can come. And that deaths with big spikes

[KitKatastrophe]

1210.8 cases per 1000
I'm guessing that's a typo as its literally impossible.

[Bwlch]

with 1210.8 cases per 1000.

That takes some doing!

[scaevola]

Yes, should have been 100,000

[Againstmachine]

The Czechs were hit realativly lightly the first time round, so might be why they are getting hit worse this time.

[PansyPink]

They locked down their borders very early on in the spring though, and had very strict rules re masks etc for months, so were barely affected while the likes of us/Italy/France/Spain had our terrible 1st wave?

Countries who took early strict measures (NZ being the primary example) are surely like tinder boxes ready to go up in flames the minute the virus arrives if guard is dropped.

The Czech Republic are basically dealing with their first wave.

[TheVanguardSix]

Czechia
You can just call it Czech Republic. I can feel the Czech people's teeth itching from over here whenever I see or hear Czechia used. Totally irrelevent to the thread, I know, and not having a go, promise.

Well, with a goon like Babis at the helm, sadly, one can expect such covid figures. The country is run by a self-serving oligarch.

[waltzingparrot]

Love Dr John Campbell's reports. Followed him on YouTube from the start. No nonsense, tells it straight, also interesting on the science so I've learnt loads.

[WhiskyTangoFoxtrot]

I can feel the Czech people's teeth itching from over here whenever I see or hear Czechia used*

Why? Genuine questions as it was they and their Parliament which made the change.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36048186

[TheKeatingFive]

Countries who took early strict measures (NZ being the primary example) are surely like tinder boxes ready to go up in flames the minute the virus arrives if guard is dropped.

Yup

[IrishMamaMia]

I also think they are going through a first wave and people there are sick of restrictions now. It's really bad timing. I remember a lot of news articles in March that because they hadn't been hit they were doing it right. I hope it settles down there soon.
I also thought it was now known as Czechia?

[Unsure33]

This is affecting their industries hard as well . Half their workers off sick or isolating and work at a standstill.so for those who think lockdown is unnecessary, I can assure you no lockdown can be just as damaging to jobs . It’s very scary .

[HelloMissus]

Hold on, the Czechs had very strict restrictions earlier this year.
They closed their borders early etc and had good mask compliance.

[TheKeatingFive]

There’s a very important lesson here about lockdown fatigue.

[Quartz2208]

@TheKeatingFive

There’s a very important lesson here about lockdown fatigue.

This

There have been as many restrictions in the Czech Republic as well.

If you are arguing that they left the strict restrictions the second time round too late thinking they had it under control and were protecting the economy (and making a parallel to us) you would have a valid point.

Saying it wasnt taken seriously (the mask mandate is incredibly strict) just isnt true at all

[PicsInRed]

@PansyPink

They locked down their borders very early on in the spring though, and had very strict rules re masks etc for months, so were barely affected while the likes of us/Italy/France/Spain had our terrible 1st wave?

Countries who took early strict measures (NZ being the primary example) are surely like tinder boxes ready to go up in flames the minute the virus arrives if guard is dropped.

The Czech Republic are basically dealing with their first wave.

This. And given evidence that the common cold may provide some cursory protection against covid (thought to be due to the cold being similar enough to speed immune response), countries which have locked down and distanced for a longer period of time may find a greater proportion of the population which hasn't had their immunity primed by other coronaviruses. Tinderbox could be right.

[Vargas]

I'm thinking the 'tinder box' theory is starting to happen in Canada too. They've been super strict but now cases are spiking up anyway and they are having challenges with compliance.

Perhaps our late lockdown wasn't as terrible as we thought? Not that I give our useless government any credit for that.

[sashagabadon]

I think it is a very good argument against lockdowns that are too early, too hard ( unless you are an island nation at the bottom of the world) as it just simply cannot be sustained and you literally have “peak” lockdown too early. See also Peru.
I remember Whitty et al suggested a June lockdown back in March but the Neil Ferguson predictions changed this abruptly.
Whitty said at that time you can only lockdown once and timing was everything and he was right. Czech Republic simply went too early but I understand why as they must have been watching Italy, Spain and us too.
If we had locked down in say Feb as some suggest we should have done, we’d be in this situation now.

[AlecTrevelyan006]

So it seems the Czech Republic did indeed take it seriously.

And now they’re facing a large increase in cases.

Perhaps there is simply a limit to which any country can ‘control the virus’?

[ihatedolphins]

I live in the Czech Republic (please don't call it Czechia,no one here wants that). Those who are referring to it as a tinderbox are absolutely right. We had little to no cases at the beginning as we locked down hard (super super strict), straightaway. Then things opened up again in the summer, people travelled all over, and once the schools started again in Sept, BOOM...our numbers have been rising like crazy!!

Interestingly, if you look at the figures carefully, Prague only accounts for maybe 10% of the cases in the whole country. Very unusual as it is by far the most heavily and densely populated part of the country. Prague was the area that had the most cases back in Spring. So perhaps Prague has some tentative version of 'herd immunity' from initial exposure?

And I think that this shows us that the virus can't be controlled. Lockdowns work at pausing the virus and once life resumes it will hit.

We are having our first wave now as a result of this.

Unless we lock down permanently I don't see how this situation could be avoided...and that simply isn't an option.

Tourism is a huge huge industry here, businesses, restaurants, bars etc etc are not going to recover now. And it isn't because workers are getting sick, because on the whole Prague isn't getting crazy numbers of cases. The government are chumps and furlough schemes aren't happening like they are in the UK.

So really I think we need to just carry on as best as we can. Accept that this is our 'big' first wave, take the hit and then numbers should decline again.

Time will tell I guess...

[lljkk]

I thought Czech Rep was the poster child of terrific virus management, the proof positive of why a "proper lockdown" is a good thing?
Funny (my black sense of humour) if they are now prioritising a more sustainable strategy.

[sashagabadon]

All those newspapers ( ft and guardian) were desperately pushing the U.K. is worst in Europe etc etc with glee and using any other country they could at that time as evidence. They were full of late lockdown talk. Wonder if they will row back from their position a bit now
Valance and Whitty both said it will be 2 years plus before you can compare countries ( not that you can completely anyway).
It was just part of the left wing agenda to attack the gov and I am a guardian reader but thought they were so shortsighted in this worst in world/ Europe stuff. I think We’ll be middle of the table at the end of this, but at the top when it comes to the clinical trials, vaccine etc.
I said this back in April and was accused of being Boris

[PansyPink]

Agreed @sashagabadon.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and as you say, it ain't over yet.

There is no telling which countries will retrospectively be considered to have handled things well, who knows what's round the corner.

[Unsure33]

I think they did take it seriously actually and then perhaps got complacent . Its a very difficult situation for them there at the moment . ):

[KenDodd]

please don't call it Czechia, no one here wants that

Can you explain more about that? I also thought that's what it's called now, that's how I've seen it officially called now.