EVERYONE IN KOŠICE!
We have set up an information call-centre for you where we'll be happy to answer your questions concerning current restrictions connected with the COVID-19 epidemic.
Contact us by phone on 055/6419 100
or by e-mail at pomoc@kosice.sk
This call-centre is open 24/7
The City of Košice is taking measures against the spread of the COVID 19 coronavirus infection in cooperation with the Regional Public Health-care Authority (RÚVZ) based in Košice. If necessary, based on a decision by the City or request from the RÚVZ, a City Crisis Committee meeting will be called, or in accordance with current legislation an emergency situation will be announced due to the threat to public health. In connection with the occurrence of this virus, the City also takes into account the guidance of the Chief Hygiene Officer of the Slovak Republic. Without directives from state institutions on the other hand, the City can only implement preventive measures in City Hall, schools and educational facilities, municipal companies and other organizations managed by the City. If need be however, in cases like this we are always prepared to take action.
What has already been done and what measures are in force in connection with limiting the spread of COVID 19 in the city of Košice?
Košice City Hall has made thorough preparations regarding all aspects of the spread of coronavirus infection in Slovakia. Read on, and you will find day-by-day information about all the activities undertaken by the City in cooperation with municipal companies and several state organizations.
25th March
- At today's session the City Crisis Committee decided on its supplementary pandemic plan for the city of Košice. As a result of this decision, another preventive measure for limiting the spread of coronavirus infection has been introduced, which is the temporary closure of the Gajdovka mineral water spring. The reason for this was the great concentration of Košice people visiting the spring and gathering there in much greater numbers than usual, creating large clusters of people too close to each other in one place.
- At midday the City Mayor chaired a working meeting in the main sessions hall focusing on the organization of Thursday's extraordinary session of the City Council. In preparing the agenda the City management took into account all the recommendations and reminders from the Regional Public Health Authority (RÚVZ) in Košice.
- The RÚVZ recommended that the City Council session should last a maximum of 45 minutes, and that every participant in the session including members of the public should have their body temperature measured before entering the sessions hall. Only one entrance to the building will be open, and all Council members present over 50 years of age will be provided with a respirator before the session.
- The total permitted capacity of the sessions hall will be limited to a maximum of 100 persons, if all the invited people attend and up to 30 members of the public turn up as well. From 6.30 am for the following two hours the sessions hall will be disinfected with Nano Silver antibacterial biocidal solution. For this reason the hall will be open from 8.30 am, once the disinfection procedure is completed.
- It was decided that all Council members as well as other persons in the hall will be under obligation throughout the session to wear a face-mask or respirator and have protective rubber gloves on their hands. Every session participant as well as every member of the public and the media will be provided with these items on their arrival at the building. Council members will sit in a “chessboard” pattern in the front 14 rows in the centre of the sessions hall. For the first time, each member will have his/her own microphone. Further details are given in the press release.
- The Crisis Committee also discussed a new service to be provided by the City for senior citizens receiving pensions of less than 450 euros per month. If the City Council approves it, every pensioner in this category will be able to order one meal of any kind to be delivered each day during the period from 1st April to 30th June 2020. They must keep the receipts, and the City will subsequently refund them 1 euro for each meal and 1 euro for the delivery.
- At the heat-exchanger building on Štítová Street, volunteers have started supplying the public with semi-finished products for making up face-masks. Today alone people picked up more than 15 000 of these sets, which they can make up at home and thus help to mitigate the lack of face-masks in the city.
24th March
- On his own initiative Deputy Mayor Marcel Gibóda, assisted by City Council member Miroslav Špak, has arranged the supply of enough textile material to produce around 100 000 face-masks. Today the Fauerecia Automotive Slovensko company has pattern-cut the same number semi-finished textile sets, which can be made up into face-masks by people at home.
- Starting from Wednesday, 25th March, Košice City Hall will be able to provide all volunteers with textile material for sewing up face-masks. They will then hand out semi-finished sets to the public every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9.00 am and 12 noon at the heat-exchanger building on Štítová Street near the Amphitheatre.
- Ready-made face-masks will be made available in so-called Maskboxes, which the City will be setting up in cooperation with the Kosit company at all the heat-exchanger buildings around the residential estates and selected council offices in the city wards.
- Based on a proposal by Košice Deputy Mayor Lucia Gurbáľová (KDH), teachers and supervisors in schools will take care of the children of health-service workers, emergency rescue and police and security service staff, shop employees and other people designated as key workers who are required to work at present due to the pandemic.
- The home teaching process will be supported by trained teachers and supervisors from pre-school facilities, children's leisure centres and school clubs at the elementary schools managed by the City of Košice.
23rd March
- This morning there was a session of the Košice City Ward Mayors' Council. The City Mayor asked them to approve the holding of an extraordinary session of the City Council which would decide on the allocation of financial resources for mitigating the consequences of the spreading coronavirus infection. The ward mayors gave their approval, and the extraordinary City Council session will be held on Thursday, 26th March.
- This morning there was a session of the extended City Crisis Committee, attended by representatives of City management, RÚVZ Košice, city hospitals, emergency and rescue services, Košice Self-governing Region, charity organizations and the police and security services.
- The City Mayor informed all those present about the activities approved and implemented so far by the City of Košice, as well as the plan to allocate 2.5 million euros from the city budget for measures in the social sphere and the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE). The attendees went on to discuss developments in the pandemic crisis and the way it has impacted the city of Košice.
- Regional Hygiene Officer Zuzana Dietzová from RÚVZ Košice informed the Committee that from today onwards they will be carrying out continuous diagnostic testing for the whole od eastern Slovakia, and that today there should be a delivery of 1000 more testing kits. Approval for coronavirus testing in households is no longer given by RÚVZ, but by the emergency services.
- She emphasized that even if a quarantined person tests negative after five or six days, it is still necessary for them to remain in quarantine and to be tested again on the 10th to 12th day. She suggested that further buildings be identified and prepared for people returning from abroad and for the city's homeless, and she was assured that City Hall is already working on this issue and has several such buildings prepared.
- She did not recommend that school buildings be considered appropriate as quarantine centres, and it seemed to her more suitable that the Košice Self-governing Region (KSK) should make its student halls of residence available for this purpose. KSK Chief Physician René Hako confirmed that they were indeed preparing these premises, and that in Košice for instance there are nine student halls with a total capacity of 659 rooms which are available for use.
- Louis Pasteur University Hospital (UNLP) Medical Director Peter Linkesch spoke about the lack of PPE for health-care staff. He pointed out that they have two testing devices, and proposed the system of so-called drive-through testing such as they already had running in Bratislava for the past 72 hours. He also pointed out that the hospital did not have the time or capacity to focus on homeless issues now.
- Emergency and rescue services Chief Operator Anna Kačalová pointed out that their phone lines tended to become overloaded at certain times of day.
- Emergency and rescue services District Headquarters Director Tomáš Berzétei said that one of their ambulances would be going round taking samples for testing, and that the crew had protective clothing suitable for repeated use.
- Košice–Šaca Hospital Director Ján Slávik suggested that the KSK Chief Physician should summon together all the directors of hospitals in this region and agree with them on further joint procedure in case there is a big rise in numbers of infected people. He criticized the State Material Reserves Administration for the fact that hospitals were getting only negligible amounts of PPE which were absolutely insufficient for their needs.
- In response to requests made by several institutions and organizations during the Crisis Committee session, City Hall Civil Defence department head Peter Ferjenčík provided them with his e-mail address and contact details for the Košice City Call-centre. He recommended that each organization should contact the Call-centre with their requirements for PPE, and the Crisis Committee will decide on priorities for its provision.
- City Hall Deputy Director Richard Dlhý recommended that home-care service facilities in the city should only consider accepting those clients who can provide confirmation from a doctor that they are free of infection.
22nd March
- More than 1000 telephone calls and a similar number of e-mails have been received by the operators of the Košice City Call-centre during the first ten days of its activity.
- There is great interest in the possibility of being registered on the list of selected groups of city residents which the city wards are going to use to arrange deliveries of groceries, medicines and dinners.
- In addition to inquiries about the ways in which social assistance is to be provided to senior citizens, dozens of Košice people have called to ask how and where they can get hold of face-masks or respirators.
- From Tuesday onwards, people can take face-masks which they have sewn at home and put them in 22 new, large-capacity containers provided by the KOSIT company (so-called Maskboxes) and placed mainly outside city ward council offices.
- The City Mayor together with City Police staff has visited the Luník IX residential area in order to monitor personally how the counter-epidemic measures are functioning on this estate.
- The Mayor has also had a meeting with the Director and clients of the Košice City Retirement Home on Garbiarska Street. As a result of the collective threat to this age group represented by the ongoing serious epidemic situation, an instruction has been issued that clients are not permitted to leave the retirement home premises until further notice.
20th March
- Starting today people will only be allowed to travel on public transport if they are wearing a face-mask or other suitable means of protection.
- City Hall has started sending out text messages (SMS) with the aim of identifying people in need or distress, with health problems or alone in quarantine, who require assistance with deliveries of meals, groceries or medicines.
- Košice has called on the government to provide the city with five million face-masks.
- Košice City Hall staff have started distributing disposable face-masks to people who have called in requesting them during the week. Although there were only a limited number of masks remaining from Thursday's delivery, in this way the City has been able to help out a few dozen Košice residents at least.
- City Hall is preparing the distribution of packages to groups of residents experiencing problems, not only of groceries but also of hygiene products.
- A database is being set up listing canteens and delivery services available to senior citizens and people with health disadvantages.
17th March
- Zuzana Dietzová from the Košice Regional Health-care Authority (RÚVZ) informed the Košice City Crisis Committee during its morning session that from today onwards the RÚVZ is starting with collection of bio-samples from people suspected of carrying the coronavirus. There is a special tent in the grounds of the Louis Pasteur University Hospital on Rastislavova Street where drive-through sampling can be carried out.
- Concerning the provision of emergency supplies to city inhabitants, the Committee decided that the City will prepare 50 packages of groceries every day for distribution to people in need and in socially-disadvantaged areas.
- the Kosit waste-disposal company has issued a statement saying it has had to start restricting and even cancelling certain of its waste-disposal services. This mainly concerns people in allotment garden areas.
- City Mayor Jaroslav Polaček has visited the Luník IX residential estate, where the newly set up Citizens Patrol commenced its activity today, focusing on preventing the spread of coronavirus infection among the inhabitants of this city ward.
- the local public-address system at Luník IX has started broadcasting recordings in Roma and Slovak languages, prepared by the City for the residents on this estate. Between 9 am and 3 pm they can find out about how they can prevent the spread of coronavirus infection and protect themselves from it, as well as the recommendations and measures which the City has implemented in this regard.
- the City Crisis Committee has suggested to the authorities of the Košice Self-governing Region that similarly to the City of Košice in recent days, it should install pictograms in all premises of outpatients' clinics, retirement and care homes, museums, galleries and other institutions which it manages indicating that people are allowed to enter all of these buildings only if they are wearing a face mask.
- the city wards have been called on once again to draw up lists of groups of inhabitants who are at higher risk from covid-19 infection, such as mothers with young children, senior citizens or people with disabilities. Although according to City statute the city wards are under obligation to ensure their inhabitants are prepared for self-protection and mutual assistance, so far no such list has been sent to City Hall by any city ward.
16th March
- at today's Crisis Committee meeting the Mayor thanked all health-care staff working in this difficult period every day and in excess of their normal duties to take care of the health of the people of Košice.
- an instruction has been issued to all City employees and providers of goods and services to the city concerning the obligation to wear face masks while carrying out their work.
- the City has started distributing 4 000 single-use protective face masks recently delivered to City Hall. These are intended primarily for employees of the City and the city wards, the City Police, and retirement and care homes run by the City, who have to carry out urgent jobs personally and cannot work from home.
- face masks have been gratefully received by staff at the Úsmev ako dar (Smile as a Gift) charity, the Archdiocesan Charity and the Oáza (Oasis) facility for the homeless in Bernátovce. Several dozen masks have been given out by City Hall employees to members of the public in one of the shopping malls in Košice.
- in response to the short supply of face masks, City management has started negotiating with several firms, community centres and protected workshops in the city which have expressed interest in making and delivering them. The City will repay the producers' costs in the case of such deliveries.
- the Municipal Greenery Service has installed warning tapes marking children's playgrounds which have to be temporarily closed. On Tuesday these will be supplemented with explanatory info-panels.
- an instruction has been issued that the Luník IX residential estate should have tap-water available round the clock throughout the coming period. Selected unofficial settlements will have fresh water supplied by tanker once a day for a specified restricted time.
- the City Police in cooperation with Košice City Housing Association will be carrying out checks on the use of face masks and hygiene aids in both municipal outpatients' clinics at the Ťahanovce and KVP residential estates.
- discussions are ongoing about ensuring the distribution of medicines and groceries to people who are not able to get them by themselves, mainly for health reasons, and about resuming the intake of clients to retirement and care homes on condition that they are not infected with covid-19.
15th March
- the City Crisis Committee held a session this afternoon
- before the session the Mayor went together with specialist staff from City Hall and City Police officers to visit several city wards including Luník IX as well as some unofficial settlements within the city limits.
- City management appeals to passengers not to use public transport without wearing a face mask, or a scarf or head-scarf, or some other similar kind of protective aid which can effectively restrict the transmission of the coronavirus to other passengers or the drivers.
- the Mayor has directed Luník IX city ward mayor Marcel Šaňo (SRK) to use the local public address system to play recorded advice about preventing the spread of coronavirus infection and how people should behave in this emergency situation.
- starting from Monday, 16th March, the Crisis Committee has ordered the closure of children's playgrounds as a preventive measure.
- in line with the Košice City statute, the Mayor has activated the section on Civil Protection and Defence and called on local mayors of the individual city wards to update their lists of groups of inhabitants who are at higher risk from covid-19 infection, such as mothers with young children, senior citizens or people with disabilities. The reason for this is to enable the City in cooperation with the city wards to provide vulnerable people with immediate assistance in case they need it.
13th March
- we have set up a coronavirus information call-centre for people in Košice, which can be accessed by phone on 055/6419 100 or by e-mail at pomoc@kosice.sk
- we have called on housing associations to carry out daily disinfections of shared premises, focusing on door handles, stair rails and banisters, landings and lifts, where frequent movements of residents are concentrated.
- together with other municipal councils, Košice has shared in the preparation of comments and recommendations for the Ministry for Home Affairs of the Slovak Republic, intended to improve the protection of safety and health for our inhabitants.
- City employees who have been carrying out urgent work within City Hall premises have been presented with packages of hygiene aids for their own use, containing a face mask, gloves and disinfectant gel.
- as a responsible self-governing body which thinks about the safety and health of its citizens, Košice City Council is now supporting the No Shame in a Face Mask drive.
- instructions have also been issued for the complete closure of Košice Zoo.
More information is available on the National Health-care Authority web-site in the section “COVID-19”:
http://www.uvzsr.sk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=250&Itemid=153
