The Czech Republic’s quarantine restrictions will be lifted once more today, May 31. Bars and other establishments where people used to drink and dance will reopen. Visitors will not, however, be permitted to dance indoors. Health Minister Adam Vojtěch announced the government’s decision on Friday.
Furthermore, live concerts will not be permitted within the venues. All visitors must have a negative coronavirus test, a vaccination certificate, or a certificate of having suffered Covid-19, wear respirators, maintain a social distance, and sit in designated seats.
The new guidelines, according to Vojtěch, have no inconsistencies.
“Epidemiologically, it makes sense. Dance undoubtedly means much closer contact between people through intense breathing. I’m convinced that people can just come, sit down, have a drink and have fun, but dancing refers to an activity that leads to increased contact between people, which is not currently allowed,” the politician said.
Owners of nightclubs disagreed with him, with several concerns about whether they should even open in these circumstances.
“It doesn’t make sense and it’s discriminatory. It’s like allowing restaurants to open but banning food consumption there, or opening swimming pools but banning swimming in them, or opening schools but banning education. We certainly won’t open under those requirements. For us it would mean a loss of 90%,” David Eremias, director of the Epic Prague club, told iDNES.
Earlier, Vojtch stated that the decision to speed up the lifting of quarantine restrictions was influenced by both the rapid improvement in the epidemiological situation and the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic’s ruling, which found the restriction on service sector businesses to be illegal and revoked the relevant Ministry of Health decision.
The ruling indicates, among other things, that the government cannot impose rules that make enterprises unable to operate.