Two homeless people ended up with a warning for ignoring the strict lockdown rules in a Slovakia’s city of Prešov. Amid the current pandemics of COVID-19, Slovaks are banned from leaving their houses after 8 pm
Is it possible to violate curfew if you have no place to leave? This conundrum is currently being resolved in Slovakia, a Central European country that has implemented rather strict measures against the spread of COVID-19.
To reduce the transmission of the new coronavirus, Slovakia has set pretty strict conditions under which people can leave their houses during the day.
And between 8 pm and 1 am, they can go out of their homes only because of health reasons, work, or if they need to walk their dogs or cats. Leaving the house for sake of traveling to another country is also allowed.
Violating the curfew can result in a pretty harsh fine of up to €1,000 ($1,190). But the police approach each case of violation on an individual level.
The police claim that they just want to persuade the people to adhere to the rules and that it’s not their goal to impose the fines.
Nevertheless, they insist that the rules apply to everybody, including people without a roof above their heads.
Some shelters offer overnight stay for free
To illustrate the situation in the country, reporters of Slovak television Markíza spent some time with a police patrol in the city of Prešov on Monday evening.
In their report, they seem to encounter a young man standing outside his house in his slippers. Apparently, he went out of his home to collect money from his Ukrainian colleagues who were traveling to their home country.
For violating the rule for mere minutes, the man ended up with a fine of €50 ($60).
After this incident, the patrol stumbled upon two homeless people. The first one didn’t even have any personal documents. He stated that he just wanted to go to the city. Another one was a woman looking for a spot to sleep at the local train station.
She claimed that she couldn’t go to a shelter because she didn’t have any money. Both these people ended up only with a warning and were instructed to seek shelter for the upcoming days.
Fortunately, they have the option to make use of services provided by the local charity.
The organization runs a shelter called Archa (Ark) that offers stays even for free or up to €3 per night.
