The Army of the Czech Republic will deploy soldiers in retirement homes in order to help the fully engaged existing personnel in the fight against the Coronavirus. They will deploy 360 of them in total. The Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar informed about it on his Twitter after the government hearing on Tuesday. 

"In connection with the risk of Coronavirus, up to 360 soldiers will help to ensure the operation of social services in the retirement homes. The government has decided on it today,” stated Metnar on his Twitter, announcing further military assistance to the public. It is necessary to mention that senior ‘s homes are at high risk because of problems with the number of personnel and mainly the age of the clients. Generally, the number of the personnel in social services is insufficient. Thus, the army will more or less substitute the activities of the regions. The reason is that they are not able to increase the number of the personnel.

Picture: The Army of the Czech Republic will deploy soldiers in retirement homes with the aim to cope with the Coronavirus pandemic (illustrative picture). | army.cz

If we examine further activity of the Army, it is primarily the protection of the state borders where it operates alongside the Police. Among other things, soldiers measure the temperature of people, help to determine the medical history, disinfect firefighters in protective suits, etc., at the border crossings.  Generally, the Army is able to allocate up to 4,096 soldiers based on the current regulation, especially to support the Police. It can be expected that this number will be really achieved in respect to the planned launch of the so-called Smart Quarantine. At that moment there are dozens of sampling teams and a range of support facilities. 

The further evolution of the number of infected people with the Coronavirus will be substantial. Considering the latest published reports, a number of offenses were reported at Easter. In particular, gathering of larger groups and a number of illegal parties in enclosed spaces and households were revealed.  It is likely that the total number of undetected quarantine violations was much higher than the one of the revealed ones.   

Picture: The Army is trying to help in all kinds of ways in these difficult times and, based on the opinions of the soldiers that have been serving at the borders, the Army doesn’t only help as a whole, but individual soldiers and their families also help. | army.cz

The Army is trying to help in all kinds of ways in these difficult times and, based on the opinions of the soldiers that have been serving at the borders, the Army doesn´t only help as a whole, but individual soldiers and their families also help. “I help my wife to sew the face masks at home. At first, I was the one who was sewing them, now she is the one. We deliver them to the retirement home, but also to my wife´s colleagues at work as she has been working in the health sector. We sew the face masks for them so they have enough of them," said, for instance, the Corporal Petr Kiška who has been guarding the Lanžhot border crossing.