COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

As of 29 February 2020, four-member teams at the National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene (NIPH–NIH) together with the Berlin hospital Charité had carried out 307 genetic tests of samples from suspected SARS-CoV-2 carriers, and 28 tests were waiting to be analysed. NIPH–NIH carried out the tests in its Warsaw laboratory and in the Wojewódzki Szpital Zakaźny in Warsaw. Diagnostic laboratories in eight other towns were being prepared for making similar analyses. The Ministry of Health refused to state how many test kits were available in Polish laboratories.[31]

On 4 March, the Minister of Health claimed that nine laboratories were carrying out SARS-CoV-2 testing (NIPH–NIH and Voivodeship Infectious Disease Hospital in Warsaw, and laboratories in Olsztyn, Wrocław, Poznań, Katowice, Rzeszów, Gdańsk and Kielce),[3] while OKO.press claimed that only four laboratories were carrying out the testing.[32] The Minister claimed that "sanitary–epidemiological stations" in Lublin, Łódź and Poznań would start SARS-CoV-2 tests the following day.[3] On 6 March, the Minister stated that 13 laboratories were running SARS-CoV-2 tests.[33]

A new law (nicknamed Polish: specustawa,[34] lit. special law) to manage a possible epidemic of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases in Poland via administrative, budgetary and epidemiological measures passed through a first reading by a parliamentary committee and through second and third readings by the Polish lower house of parliament, the Sejm, on 1 and 2 March, with 400 votes out of 418 in favour in the third reading.[35] Konfederacja was the only parliamentary club which voted against the measure.[36] Philosopher and law professor Jerzy Zajadło praised the discussion of the bill in the Sejm, in that the Speaker allowed members of parliament to discuss the bill under the principles of deliberative democracy, which he judged rare for the parliament dominated by PiS. Zajadło criticised the bill as establishing vague powers with little chance of checks and balances, which he saw as being in the spirit of the approach of the political party in power; he saw the bill as establishing a permanent state of emergency for COVID-19 and all other contagious diseases; he criticised the wide array of changes implied in the law as having consequences difficult to predict; and he judged the law to be unnecessary given that laws covering the situation already existed.[34] Ewa Łętowska, a former judge in the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, also criticised the law as effectively creating a new, 180-day long state of emergency, in addition to the state of emergency rules defined in the Polish Constitution for a maximum of 90 days. She interpreted the law as giving the authorities arbitrary power without control by administrative courts.[37]

On 19 February, twelve people remained hospitalised "in connection with the coronavirus", 13 were under home quarantine and 1000 were being monitored by health services.[38] On 27 February 47 people remained hospitalised with suspicions of SARS-CoV-2 infection, 55 were under home quarantine and 1570 were being monitored by health services.[6] Polish Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski stated on 27 February that he expected positive SARS-CoV-2 laboratory confirmed cases in the following days.[6]

On 3 March, a total of 559 SARS-CoV-2 tests had been run for people in Poland suspected of SARS-CoV-2 infection, all with negative results,[39] while the numbers of people home quarantined and monitored increased and the number of hospitalised, suspected cases dropped.[40]

The first lab-confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 in Poland was announced on 4 March 2020, out of 584 tests in total.[3] The patient, a 66-year-old man, returned from a visit to Westphalia in Germany by bus to Świecko and from there by private car to Cybinka. He telephoned a general practitioner. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Zielona Góra, where he arrived around midday 2 March. In the evening of 2 March, a sample from the patient was sent for analysis to Warsaw. The result was known to be positive during the night of 3 to 4 March, and announced by the Minister of Health at 8:00 local time on 4 March. OKO.press criticised the delay of 44 hours from the patient's arrival at the hospital to the announcement of the positive test result as excessive.[32] Close contacts of the patient were home quarantined. The Minister of Health requested the media to respect the patient's privacy.[3]

On 6 March, Polish Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski announced the confirmation of four new cases:[42] one hospitalised in Ostróda, linked to "patient zero" from Cybinka (the two had travelled in the same bus); two patients in Szczecin who had returned by car from Italy; and one patient in Wrocław who had returned from the United Kingdom (UK).[33] On 7 March, another SARS-CoV-2 case, of another person who had travelled in the bus together with "patient-zero", was announced by the Minister of Health as lab-confirmed.[43]

On 8 March, The Ministry of Health reported two new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection. One person was hospitalised in Warsaw and another in Racibórz (Silesian Voivodeship). Both were in good condition.[44] In the evening, the Ministry confirmed another three positive test results, increasing the daily case count to five new cases. The patients were hospitalised in Warsaw, Wrocław and Racibórz: one elderly person, one middle-aged and one young.[45][46] The elderly person (hospitalised in Wrocław) was in serious condition.[47]

On 9 March, in the morning, Polish Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski announced the confirmation of five new cases. Three cases were confirmed in Racibórz, one in Kraków, one in Wrocław and one in Poznań, bringing the total number of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in Poland to 17.[48]

On 10 March, the mode of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Poland was officially declared to the World Health Organization as having shifted from imported cases only to local transmission.[7][8]

The eighteenth confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was announced in the Masovian Voivodeship on 10 March. The two SARS-CoV-2 patients earlier announced in Warsaw were both seriously ill with COVID-19.[49] Armed Forces General Commander gen. Jarosław Mika was diagnosed with the virus on 10 March.[50]

On 16 March, the number of confirmed cases increased to 177 and the death toll to 4. One of those infected was Minister of the Environment Michał Woś.[51]

On 17 March, "patient zero", at Zielona Góra hospital, tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 the second time, and was considered to have recovered.[52][53]

On 17 March, a doctor at a hospital in Grójec, "Z.", had a dry cough and fever and had a sample taken for SARS-CoV-2 testing. While several members of staff did not want to work with him, the head of their group disagreed but decided after a long debate to isolate Z. The hospital continued to function for the rest of the day without disinfection of the places where Z. had been present. On 18 March Z. was confirmed to be SARS-CoV-2 positive, and the hospital took samples from close contacts of Z. from the previous five days. Some of the nurses were ordered back to work at the hospital while waiting for their test results. As of 24 March, 11 of the 59 patients of the hospital and seven medical personnel were found to be SARS-CoV-2 positive. Onet.pl and Gazeta Wyborcza described the situation as contagion by carelessness.[54]

One of the Grójec hospital personnel also worked at a Niedabyl nursing home. On 28 March, 52 of the 66 residents and eight employees were found to be SARS-CoV-2 positive.[55]

On 1 April, 38 hospitals and hospital sections around Poland, including twelve in the Masovian Voivodeship that includes the Polish capital of Warsaw, were temporarily closed due to the risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination from a confirmed or likely SARS-CoV-2 infected patient.[56]

On 5 October 2020, Przemysław Czarnek tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.[57]
On 14 October Sebastian Kaleta tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.[58] On 24 October, it was announced that Polish president Andrzej Duda had tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an event in Tallinn where he met Bulgarian president Rumen Radev who had gone into self-isolation after the event.[59] On 2 December, Poland reached 1 million cases.

Polish authorities' initial COVID-19 limitation strategy of laboratory testing, contact tracing, quarantining and monitoring intensified in mid-March with "lockdown" type measures. On 10 March, authorities cancelled all mass events, defined as those allowing 1000 or more participants in the case of stadiums or other events outside of buildings, and those allowing 500 or more participants in the case of events in buildings.[12] Cultural institutions, such as philharmonic orchestras, operas, theatres, museums, and cinemas, had their activities suspended beginning on 12 March 2020.[13]

All schools in Poland were closed starting on 12 March, with a reopening initially scheduled for 25 March 2020.[14] The closure was extended to 10 April, with schools being required to carry out online classes with their students. As of 20 March, the dates of final exams for eighth (final) year of primary school and matura, the exam during the final year of secondary school (liceum or technikum), remained unchanged.[60]

Universities cancelled classes for the same period, while typically keeping research and administrative staff at work and allowing exceptions for research purposes.[61]

An official epidemic was declared in Poland on 20 March 2020 by the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.[41]

On 24 March, Poland's government announced further restrictions on people leaving their homes and on public gatherings to further limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The new limits constrained gatherings by default to a maximum of two people (with an exception for families); an exception for religious gatherings, such as mass in the Catholic Church, funerals and marriages in which five participants and the person conducting the ceremony were allowed to gather; and an exception for work places. Non-essential travel was prohibited, with the exception of travelling to work or home, SARS-CoV-2 control related activities, or "necessary everyday activities". Everyday activities qualifying as "necessary" included shopping, buying medicines, visiting doctors, walking dogs, jogging, cycling and walking, provided that no more than two people participate and contact with others was avoided. The restrictions were initially defined for the period from 25 March to 11 April inclusive.[15][62]

As of 12 March 2020, the National Bank of Poland, to which commercial banks in Poland send their bank notes to, carried out a two-week quarantine procedure and heating at 150 °C (302 °F) for all bank notes, prior to returning the notes for circulation.[63][64]

On 31 March, the prime minister announced that Poland would strengthen the restrictions starting from 31 March–1 April. Lawyers contacted by OKO.press expected the restrictions to be issued as a regulation (secondary legislation) (Polish: rozporządzenie), which they considered would be an unconstitutional method of introducing the rules.[65] The regulation was published in Dziennik Ustaw on 31 March 2020 as a regulation issued by the government.[22] According to the regulation, minors (aged under 18) were prohibited from leaving their homes unaccompanied by a legal guardian. Parks, boulevards and beaches were closed, as well as all hairdressers, beauty parlours and tattoo and piercing salons. Hotels were allowed to operate only if they had residents in quarantine, in another form of isolation, on an obligatory work delegation for services such as building construction or medical purposes. Individuals walking in public were obliged to be separated by at least two metres, with the exception of guardians of children under 13 and disabled persons. No restrictions were applied to people travelling in private cars.[66][65]

The 31 March regulation allowed religious (Article 9.3a) and other (Article 15.1, 15.2) gatherings of only five people plus a religious personnel or funeral employees from 1 to 11 April. The gatherings were allowed to be bigger, up to 50 people, inclusive of religious personnel, to start from 12 April 2020 until further notice.[22] An updated regulation on 10 April retained the authorisation of religious/funeral gatherings of up to 50 people but shifted the start date to 20 April (Article 9.2) while other gatherings remained banned (Article 14)[23][67] 1 person per 10 m².[68][69]

On 9 April, Mateusz Morawiecki announced that the closure of educational institutions and international transport would continue to 26 April, the borders would remain "closed" until 3 May, and people entering Poland would still be required to be quarantined for 14 days. Szumowski stated that the closure of cultural institutions and limits implemented in shops would continue to 19 April. A new control measure was planned to start from 16 April, making it obligatory to cover one's nose and mouth in public places.[70] After being asked where people could obtain masks from, Szumowski clarified that any form of face covering, such as scarves, would be acceptable.[71] A government website differed from the 31 March regulation, stating that religious gatherings were to be limited to at most five people until 19 April.[72] Police stated that the 10 April gathering of the de facto leader of Poland Jarosław Kaczyński[73] and nine other people, standing close together, commemorating the Smolensk air disaster by laying a wreath, did not constitute a gathering in the sense of big gatherings forbidden in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Former prime minister of Poland Leszek Miller described the gathering as showing contempt for ordinary people respecting the COVID-19 restrictions.[74]

As of 20 March 2020, the number of SARS-CoV-2 tests per capita in Poland was lower than that of 22 other members of the European Union, the EFTA and the European Economic Area, and above that of Croatia and Hungary.[75] Among 19 mostly European countries analysed by OKO.press using data from 20 March, the number of tests per positive detection was 30.8 tests per positive detection in Poland, higher than for any of the other European countries listed, including Germany (28.7) and Norway (28.1), and lower than in South Korea at 36.6 and Russia at 721 tests per positive detection.[76]

On 26 March, the Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski claimed that European solidarity in the provision of medical equipment to Poland had failed. OKO.press qualified the claim as "false" and accused the minister of deliberately misleading public opinion.[10] OKO.press referred to the European Union (EU) tender process for masks and other protective equipment as a "success" that Poland applied for very late, and commented as context that the EU does not have the legal powers to impose health management policy, such as quarantine measures or closing schools, on member states. The EU tender process was announced on 28 February 2020, to which 20 member states, without Poland, responded. Poland joined the mechanism on 6 March, qualifying for a procedure opened on 17 March for the purchase of gloves, goggles, face protectors, surgical masks and clothing. The European Commission claimed that all the purchases were satisfied by offers, and should arrive within two weeks. Commissioner Thierry Breton described the procedure as illustrating the power of EU coordination.[10] On 19 March, the EU announced the creation of the rescEU strategic stockpile of medical equipment, to be financed at the level of 90% by the commission, to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.[77]

The pandemic and the isolation measures in response to it had a serious influence on the Polish economy, especially commerce, tourism and the hospitality industries.[78]

The government prepared a plan of public assistance to businesses, called the "Anti-crisis Shield" (Polish: Tarcza antykryzysowa). The program was launched on 1 April 2020.[78] The program consists primarily of the following five areas.[79]

Financial safety of employees and protection of jobs

• Government-paid social insurance contributions for three months, for companies employing up to nine people, self-employed individuals and freelancers.
• One-off benefits of circa 2,000 PLN gross (80% of the monthly minimal wage) for self-employed and freelancers. Around 2.2 million people are estimated to be eligible for these benefits.
• Working permits for non-citizens are to be prolonged to 30 days after the official revoking of the state of epidemic (as of early April 2020, a formal state of emergency or state of natural disaster had not been declared), if they expire during the state of epidemic.[80]

Finance of business

Business finance measures include:[81]

• Public co-financing of employees' salaries up to 40% of the average monthly wage, if working time has been reduced up to 20%, but no less than working time for a part-time position.
• The taxpayers affected by pandemic are entitled to deduct their losses incurred in 2020 from income obtained in 2019 providing that revenue has diminished by more than 50%.
• Non-repayable loans up to 5,000 PLN for companies employing up to 9 people, but there cannot be any lay-offs within the next 6 months.[82]
• Enabling legally the company credit-worthiness assessing on the basis of former year financial statement in order to extend the repayment terms of business overdrafts.
• Postponing the deadlines of withholding taxes, submitting the fiscal declarations and implementation of mandatory Employee Pension Plan (EPP, pol. Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe, PPK)

Healthcare

• Enabling the taxpayers to deduct their donations given for counteracting the pandemic from their income.

Enhancing financial market soundness

• Reducing banks' capital buffers requirements by Financial Stability Committee.[83]

Public investment plan

• Elongated deadlines of public projects and cancellation of deadlines penalties in public tenders.
• The public purchases for equipment needed in counteracting the pandemic no longer has to conform the public procurement law.

The European Jamboree 2020, an event for 30,000 scouts and guides in Gdansk, due to take place in July 2020, was initially postponed to July 2021, but was ultimately cancelled in November 2020. [84][85][86]

On 26 March 2020, the Polish health authorities' classification of COVID-19 deaths only included deaths of people with lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, classified as U07.1 under the ICD-10 international disease classification system.[18] COVID-19 deaths under U07.2, which had been defined by WHO one day earlier[19] to mean deaths when "COVID-19 is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically but laboratory testing is inconclusive or not available",[17] were not yet included in the NIPH–NIH instructions.[19] Stefan Karczmarewicz, writing in Polityka, interpreted this as an attempt by authorities to lower the official COVID-19 death toll in Poland. He argued that there was a policy of limiting the number of SARS-CoV-2 tests, which together with the exclusion of the ICD-10 category U07.2 implied an underestimate of the true COVID-19 death toll.[112][113] NIPH–NIH stated that the omission was unintentional due to the timing, and updated its instructions on 1 April, instructing doctors to also use the U07.2 definition of clinically or epidemiologically classified COVID-19 cases.[19] NIPH–NIH stated that the WHO considered it "irrelevant" to distinguish between U07.1 and U07.2. On 6 April, Bartosz Fiałek, a Polish rheumatologist, claimed that the NIPH–NIH instructions were unclear, and that it appeared that U07.2 was not being used for COVID-19 deaths in hospital in which SARS-CoV-2 tests had not been carried out, nor for people dying of COVID-19 in quarantine.[114]

On 21 March 2020, a 45-year-old man who was quarantined in Głogów after returning from outside of Poland and who had shown COVID-19 symptoms was found dead by police. As of 26 March 2020, the prosecutor investigating his death had not decided whether or not to carry out a SARS-CoV-2 laboratory test on the corpse.[20] The dead body of a 50-year-old woman who returned from Germany to Konin and felt ill was found by her family on 24 March. Główny Inspektorat Sanitarny (GIS, the national health agency) refused to test the corpse for SARS-CoV-2. As of 27 March 2020, GIS had not stated what procedures were in place for post mortem tests.[20] As of 6 April 2020, it was not known if any laboratories in Poland were qualified to carry out post-mortem SARS-CoV-2 tests.[114]

There were several claims of COVID-19 deaths unreported by the Ministry of Health. In early April, Warsaw City Council stated that there had been 32 COVID-19 deaths in Warsaw, while official statistics only listed eight. The Minister of Health stated that the difference was that deaths were officially allocated according to the official places of residence of the deceased. The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, stated that the data were carefully checked, and that 18 of the 32 were registered as officially living in Warsaw, not eight.[115]

OKO.press claimed that two COVID-19 deaths at a Ministry of Interior and Administration hospital in Warsaw, on 19 March 2020 of a man born in 1942 who had returned from Austria[116] and on 24 March of a psychiatric patient, were not announced by the Ministry of Health.[117] On 26 March, the family of the man born in 1942 claimed that his 19 March death had not been announced.[116] On the same day, 26 March, the Ministry of Health announced the death of a 78-year-old man in Warsaw.[118]

Disagreement between local media, the head of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, and GIS continued for several days in early April in relation to the 4 April death in a Grudziądz hospital of a 64-year-old woman from Grudziądz who was SARS-CoV-2 positive.[119] Gazeta Pomorska stated that the head of the voivodeship only accepted including the 64-year-old's death in official reports after the newspaper "intervened". As of 8 April 2020, according to Gazeta Pomorska, the Ministry of Health still listed only one COVID-19 death from Grudziądz (that of an 80-year-old), while local branches of the health agency stated zero SARS-CoV-2 infections from Grudziądz in their reports.[120]