While Prague continues to open up from its strict Coronavirus lockdown, it still has not fully opened to foreign travel – for either visitors coming in or Czechs wishing to go abroad. So for the first time since the days of communism, really, locals are having their city to themselves.

In efforts to promote domestic travel & tourism, hotels & tourists sites are offering all manner of discounts & coupons, with some luxury brands that previously catered almost solely to foreigners, such as the Four Seasons, offering special packages to suit a local budget.  The government has also issued coupons for hotels to give to guests that provide reduced entry into various sites.

And things are happening quickly.

Just this month we’ve seen:

• Movie theaters open on May 11th (with a max of two people together & a seat between viewers),
  
• Outdoor gatherings up to 10 people allowed,
  
• Restaurants serving food at outdoor tables only from May 5th with 6 feet between tables (previously only take away from a window or delivery was allowed),
  
• Restaurants serving customers indoors from yesterday, and
  
• The BIG NEWS:  the ability to go outdoors without a mask!
  

In my last blog post, I reported that the Czech Republic had begun to ease Coronavirus restrictions. This decision was made after we had good results from a five-week strict lockdown.

Naturally, there was some concern about whether easing too soon might tempt people to let down their guard completely, given that we had all been indoors isolating for so long and the spring weather was beautiful.

If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I’ve been documenting the Czech Republic’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak. You will also know that the results have been pretty good, and that continues to be the case.
 
For more on the steps that have been taken since the beginning of the outbreak, see my earlier blog posts:

March 4, 2020
March 9, 2020
March 12, 2020
March 13, 2020
March 16, 2020
March 20, 2020
March 23, 2020
March 31, 2020

I’d like to give you another update on the Coronavirus outbreak in the Czech Republic.

As I reported in my last post, the strict measures that were enacted by the Czech government when it realized that: a) Italy’s infection rates were exploding and its hospitals were overwhelmed, and b) lots of Czechs were in Italy on skiing holidays for the winter school break have been paying off.

From our first three cases diagnosed on March 2nd to March 30th, we now have 3,001 confirmed cases of COVID in the Czech Republic. Although that's a big increase, we've not seen exponential growth, and our hospitals still have the capacity to treat the sick.

Sadly, since my last post, we’ve now had our first deaths – the number is now 23. Almost all deaths were people over 70 and/or with underlying health issues. Twenty-five people have recovered from the disease.

Finally! ... A coherent narrative about the origins of the Great War.

Many of you know that I have written several guidebooks about Prague. But you might not know that last year I participated in the publication of a book in a different way. I had the pleasure of helping friend and fellow author, Maggie Ledford Lawson, format and publish her great work, Passage to Byzantium: The Romanov-Habsburg Feud that Led to World War I.

This book is a life's work for Maggie, who spend most of her career as a journalist in Washington, DC, and later Prague. She spent more than a decade researching for this book.

As you know if you've followed my recent posts, the Czech Government has enacted strict measures in an attempt to "flatten the curve" (a phrase we are all very familiar with now) of the Coronavirus outbreak here. And I'm happy to say that it appears that it might be paying off.

On Sunday we passed the 1,000 mark in terms of the number of infected people, but so far, we have had NO deaths due to the disease, and 6 people have recovered. That is certainly wonderful news!

I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but things continue to change by the hour here in Prague.
 
In my last post, I reported that the whole Czech Republic went into full quarantine on Monday. That meant:

• Only grocery stores, pharmacies, some post offices and bank branches, hospitals and doctors' offices were open.
  
• People were required to work from home if possible.
• You could leave your house only to go to/from work (if you’re not working from home); to buy groceries, medicines and other necessities; and to walk your dog.
  

Things are still moving quickly here in the Czech Republic. Friday I posted that restaurants and bars were required to close at 8:00 p.m., but by the time Friday was over, that was tightened to where restaurants and bars had to close altogether except to serve food or coffee to go through windows. Furthermore, all shops other than grocery stores and pharmacies were ordered to close.

As you can see from the photo above, the weather was very nice on the weekend, so after staying in as recommended most of the week, I went out for a walk on both Saturday and Sunday.  I was surprised to see so many people out and about.  While most shops were closed, cafes and restaurants at least had personnel inside with signs posted saying they will serve food and drinks through a window. Some were selling their unprepared food supplies, as the order to close came suddenly and they were fully stocked. I bought some (overpriced) vegetables from an Italian restaurant (some beautiful imported eggplant) just to help them out. But otherwise, because it was warm and sunny, I guess, lots of people were out and about drinking coffee and eating pastries, so in some respects it looked almost like a normal weekend in the neighborhood.

I began yesterday's post by saying that things are moving quickly here as facts change on the ground. And that is still the case.

Yesterday I posted that events with attendees of more than 100 people are canceled, but within a few hours, that was changed to events with more than 30 people. In addition, the government ordered all restaurants to limit patrons to 30 maximum, and restaurants must close at 8:00 p.m. from today.