Ernst-Mach scholarship holder Laura Lukášová is part of the Covid-Czechia emergency team, led by Petr Ludwig, a worldwide known author of the international bestseller "The End of Procrastination". On their website they state that in the Czech Republic the initiative managed to significantly slow down the growth of numbers of people infected by Covid-19. The team created an information video describing what they did.
While the usage of masks is discussed controversial in countries worldwide, the Czech team decided to take this path and made face masks available for the Czech people already at the start of the outbreak.
Scholarship holder Laura describes the story of the Covid-Czechia emergency team and tells why they chose to follow this action plan: "Homemade masks are partly effective in individual protection, but they are essential for slowing the spread of the virus in the population. The main outcome of our studies was that they stop around 95-100% of viruses that people are emitting by their breath, sneezing and coughing. People are the most contagious during the first days without symptoms, that's why we need masks for all. We have successfully tested the hypothesis at two main technical universities and it is highly recommended by a team of experts called COVID CZECH under the coordination of the president of Czech Technical University in Prague. The team consists of a virologist, an epidemiologist, doctors with specialization in population protection, chemists and physicist with specialization in filtration. This group is an advisory expert group for the Czech government in Prague. Now it is obligatory to wear masks in the whole country."