Everything Is Broken and No One Cares

This week has offered a disconcerting look into how dysfunctional things are in the Czech Republic. Last Saturday, my sister received a phone call from a colleague who had just tested positive for coronavirus, so my dad drove her to get tested too. As they made their way towards the highway, my mum was phoning testing centres to find out which ones were still open late in the afternoon, and I relayed the information to dad. Almost every single place was either closed or full. Fortunately, we eventually found a testing centre near the airport (a less densely populated area) that was still administering tests.

The difficulty of finding a testing centre was our first indication that things are going horribly wrong. If it is this difficult to get a test on short notice (albeit on a Saturday afternoon), how many people don’t get tested at all?

Our second red flag was that after my sister received the call from her colleague, no contact tracer reached out to her until after a week. This is despite the fact that he had been asked for a list of contacts, which he promptly drew up and gave the powers that be. 

Fortunately, my sister has not been showing any symptoms for over a week, so she is probably fine. However, our concerning experiences are but a tiny window into the litany of things that are falling apart. Nobody is wearing masks unless the law compels them to do so, and the law compels people to wear masks woefully little. In an effort to shore up support, the government is handing out cash to its most loyal supporters (the elderly), while doing close to nothing to stop them and the rest of us from dying. Previous plans to re-introduce masks in schools, shops, etc., have been gutted by the Prime Minister, who has ascertained that masks are unpopular with the voting blocs most likely to support him. To top it off, he himself is flouting prevention guidelines after coming into contact with a person who has coronavirus. His pathetic excuse for going about his business as usual: the ceiling was high and the room was well ventilated. And this man is the man leading the country.

Unsurprisingly, things are looking dismal. Almost every day this week has seen a record rise in cases, with the number for Friday almost reaching eight hundred. We live in a clownocracy.