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Coronavirus: 2nd wave arrives early, Hungarian rector explains why
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The second wave of coronavirus is here, Rector of Semmelweis University warns. Only if people could have refrained from vacationing abroad, we could have pushed it back a little, he added. The rector hopes the second wave will be milder than the first one. Now, younger people tend to get infected who can hopefully recover from the virus quickly.
As reported earlier, the number of registered coronavirus infections in Hungary has risen by 178 to 6,139, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Monday morning. There are 1,763 active infections, and 103 coronavirus patients are being treated in hospital for Covid-19, seven on ventilators. Altogether 8,982 people are in official home quarantine, and 428,150 tests have been carried out. According to professor Béla Merkely, MD, PhD, DSc, the second wave of the virus is here.
Merkely told RTL Klub that he suspected the second wave of arriving late September due to the increased number of social interactions once students are back in school. However, the record-high numbers of new cases indicate that it is already here, 3-4 weeks earlier than expected. Merkely believes that a high number of people went on holiday abroad and they most likely brought the virus back to Hungary.
A lot of people were vacationing in the neighbouring countries like Croatia, where the first wave of coronavirus prolonged and it was still going on during the summer. He sees how hard it is to distance ourselves from other Central-European countries, but he thinks Hungarians could have tolerated spending one summer within the borders. He himself did not leave the country all summer, but several of his friends and acquaintances have.
Béla Merkely: he may have a MD, PhD, DSc and whatever not, but from his comments, he is in the pocket of the ruling party…
If the big rise in the number of Covid cases in Hungary is due to Hungarians going abroad for a holiday (a big ‘if’, since lots of people went to the Balaton) one must conclude the following: they did not practice social distancing or the use of masks or follow the hygiene measures whilst on holiday. They then returned and were careless about the same measures back home. Regarding the Balaton, the same applies (I know for a fact that social distancing etc all went out of the window there this summer). Even now, the number of people not wearing masks on trams or in supermarkets here in Budapest is quite high and there is no attempt at enforcement. This second wave is not due to foreigners, it is down to the blatant disregard for the rules/common sense measures by Hungarians themselves.