The government has approved 46,000 respirators for schools in the three districts

On Friday, the government approved the supply of 46,000 respirators for teachers and non-teaching staff in primary, nursery and special schools in the districts of Cheb, Sokolov and Trutnov, which are the worst affected by the covid-19 epidemic. This was stated on Twitter by the Minister of Education Robert Plaga (for YES). On Thursday, the government restricted the free movement of people in these districts, and people can only travel to and from them for specified reasons, such as work or caring for relatives. The measure is to apply until the end of the state of emergency, ie until Sunday.

“The government has approved that pedagogical and non-pedagogical staff from primary, nursery and special schools in the worst-affected districts of Cheb, Sokolov and Trutnov will receive a total of 46,000 respirators from the state,” Plaga said. Their distribution will be ensured by firefighters in cooperation with the relevant regions, he added. In addition to kindergartens and special schools and the first and second grades of primary schools, schools in the Czech Republic are closed and children are required to learn at a distance.

In the districts of Cheb, Sokolov and Trutnov, the disease has recently spread the fastest in the country. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of those infected is three to four times higher than in the rest of the country. Hospitals have full capacity and have to transport patients elsewhere.

The government therefore decided on Thursday that people there must wear an FFP2 respirator or at least a surgical drape in all public places or on public transport. The measure is to apply until the end of the state of emergency, for the extension of which, however, the government did not find support in the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday evening, and which will end on Sunday. Therefore, the government will discuss on Friday what further procedure it will choose. It could bring some measures against the spread of coronavirus under the Public Health Act or declare a new state of emergency, but some lawyers call it circumventing the constitution.

Already on Thursday, the government also decided that the state would send half a million disposable drapes from the stocks of the State Material Reserves Administration to the Hradec Králové and Karlovy Vary regions. They will be designed to be distributed free of charge by the governor’s office to socially disadvantaged citizens in the affected districts of Cheb, Sokolov and Trutnov. As in the case of respirators for schools, firefighters will ensure the distribution of protective masks to the regions.