“Canceled” Christmas markets: A well-known doctor showed what it looks like in the center of Prague
Crowds of people, with only a minimum of them having a respirator, buy Christmas goods, including snacks. As if the government ban on holding Christmas markets did not apply in the very center of Prague. At least that’s what it looks like in the photos from the upper part of Wenceslas Square. According to epidemiologists, markets pose a risk.
The contribution of a well-known doctor, the chairman of the Czech Dental Chamber, Roman Šmucler, provoked a great response on social networks. On Saturday afternoon, Šmucler showed what it looked like at the top of Wenceslas Square, where the Christmas markets take place, to be an official cultural event.
In addition, Šmucler compared the situation on Wenceslas Square with that on nearby Old Town, where markets do not take place, but at a similar time there were still crowds. “We buy a holt welder in pubs in the square, not at stalls. If it saved the healthcare system, everyone understood,” he wrote.
The debaters called his profile a “reunion party” or paused over what the doctors and nurses in the hospitals would say. But many others appreciated that the markets were working even though the government had banned them.
Christmas markets are pretty useful throughout the school days! We have a beautiful, almost capital Christmas.
Author: Roman Šmucler on Saturday, December 4, 2021
One of the most famous cases when the city decided to bypass the Christmas markets by renaming it is the one from Most. There they turned Christmas into “winter farmers’ markets”. The South Bohemian governor Martin Kuba (ODS) also responded to this, pointing out that the biggest problem of the current situation is the overcrowded hospital and the overload of paramedics.
“If the mayor of Most thinks that if he renames one market to another, he will only deceive these people as someone, and then I would highly recommend that he take the service on Christmas Eve and go there for you. people make sure to take it for the holidays, because I am convinced that the mayor will have carp and sweets at home with his family and he will not care who he serves there, “said Kuba.
According to epidemiologist Roman Prymula, circumventing the ban will certainly manifest itself in the number of infected. He pointed out that the markets themselves are not a problem, the former Minister of Health sees elsewhere.
“If they took them as a way to buy some products that are not in supermarkets, they are products of specific craftsmen or home-made self-production in those villages and so on, then I do not have a big problem. Unfortunately, those Christmas markets are more synonymous with meeting, consumption in a close circle, there is of course the risk, “Nova Prymula told TV.
According to Prymula, the markets could work if it could be separated and only Christmas-themed goods were actually sold there. “But it will be difficult to prevent people in a close circle from debating an hour,” she said.
Some operators did so by not allowing the operation of food stalls. Elsewhere, however, they are open, for example, noting that snacks are only for consumption at home.
The markets have ravaged Cheb, says Babiš
The premiere of Andrej Babiš’s ban on Christmas markets also justified the experience with the spread of the disease last year in Cheb, West Bohemia.
“If you forgot that the Christmas markets in Cheb, what the hell was it, how the mayor there infested the whole of Cheb, when everyone rushed to the mound there and 400 people died there, which is three times more than usual, an increase of 300 percent and we transported people from there to the whole of the Czech Republic, “he said in a video on Facebook this week, where he answered one of the questions sent to him by citizens.
The markets in the upper part of Wenceslas Square operate thanks to a permit from the city district of Prague 1. It is behind its decision. “We appreciate the work of everyone, including small traders – small retailers, and we will not allow ourselves to run into existing problems due to an unfortunate and ambiguous regulation,” he said. People’s Newspaper Mayor Petr Hejma (STAN).
Brno offers Christmas markets in a virtual form, more in the report:
TN.cz