Final Word from Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Epidemiologist Rastislav Maďar told Czech TV last night that he doesn't think vaccinations for tuberculosis played any role in the CR's low level of covid-19 infection. If eastern European countries that inoculated longer for TB have done better, he said, it is for different reasons. It is largely because they imposed a nationwide quarantine earlier, he said. This no doubt played a role in the spread of the disease, yet it fails completely to take into account the relative health of the populations. McDonald's didn't open in Prague until March 1993, but the waistlines of Czechs have been growing ever since. Eastern Europeans were nearly as quick to change their eating habits as their political regimes. It nevertheless takes time for bad eating to become a systemic medical issue. The inherited malnutrition passed from one generation to another in many western countries is only now developing in eastern Europe, which means covid-19 might have to wait awhile if it wants to go on a rampage here. [ Czech Republic coronavirus Television obesity fat obese ]