Economy 14 April 2021, 5:03pm

Hungary to open restaurant terraces, 1st-4th grades in elementary schools

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Hungary is to further ease restrictions implemented to curb the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced in a video posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday. One of the measures is that restaurants will be allowed to re-open their terraces, but the re-opening of elementary schools scheduled for 19 April (next Monday) was toned down a bit.

Restaurant terraces to open shortly

Orbán said that restaurants will be allowed to open their terraces to the public once there are 3.5 million people inoculated against coronavirus.

Vaccination milestones
The government has decided to link the easing of lockdown measures to the ratio of the population vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. The first such milestone was set to 2.5 million and once it was reached, the easing of curbs was announced. These included the re-opening of stores with longer opening hours, the shortening of the night curfew and the re-opening of nurseries and schools.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán came up with the2.5 millionthreshold on the conviction that this is the number that would mean everyone over the age of 65, i.e. the most at risk of dying of coronavirus-related diseases, was vaccinated.

The second milestone was set to3 millionbut so far no official explanation has been provided as to why. In the meantime, Orbán has announced further easing measures on Wednesday.

Orbán said on 2 April that those vaccinated would likely be granted preferential treatment in certain areas, but only when3.5 millionpeople have received their first shot. Another milestone we have no idea how he has come up with.

The PM said there could be 3.5 million people vaccinated against COVID-19 by the middle of next week, Wednesday or Thursday. (We'd wager a large sum that this goal will be reached by then.)

The cabinet is to help the sector by not charging restaurants for the use of public space.

School re-opening cut back

Orbán also said a decision has been made in respect of the re-opening of (elementary) schools, as well.

We can move forward only gradually and cautiously therefore I ask for parents' patience and understanding

, he said.

The government has decided to re-open only nurseries and the 1st-4th grades of elementary schools on 19 April. The 5th-8th grades will re-open on 10 May, in parallel with secondary schools. Until then, remote learning remains in place for them.

Considering that the original plan was to re-open nurseries, elementary and secondary schools on 19 April, this is yet another decision that apparently takes into consideration not only political and economic aspects, but also the epidemiological situation which shows no convincing improvement. Last week, the cabinet decided to re-open secondary schools three weeks later on 10 May.

There must be a lot of parents that can hardly wait to send their kids back to school, but (i) maybe the cabinet could have come up with a support scheme for those that cannot go to work because they have to take care of their minor child(ren) at home, and (ii) in view of the current epidemiological situation not every parent is eager to expose their offspring and consequently themselves to a potential coronavirus infection.

There are over 725,000 elementary school students in the 2020/2021 school year, according to preliminary data by the Central Statistical Office (KSH). Slightly less than half of them are in 1st-4th grade. That is still about 360,000 students. That's a lot of contacts and lot of chances to transmit and contract coronavirus both in school and at home. And what if I have a child in 6th grade and one in 4th? It is safe to let one of them back to school but not the other? Seriously?

There areno reliable informationon how children transmit the infection, how many of them are in hospital with COVID-19, or how Hungary is doing in terms of herd immunity (in reality, about a quarter or a third of the population at most could be protected via vaccination or infection).

The risks of infection are somewhat reduced by the fact that most teachers have been vaccinated. However, as they were sidelined by the cabinet for a long time and their vaccination have started only recently, they will not be or not fully protected by next Monday. That is one of the reasons teacher unions protest the re-opening. And children are still not vaccinated so…

Orbán said international and domestic political attacks on vaccines have intensified, with the sole purpose of increasing people's hesitancy over taking up their COVID-19 vaccine. He has asked citizens to get vaccinated because it inoculation saves lives.

Here are a few articles that explain why the easing of curbs, including the re-opening of schools is not the best idea for the time being.