Czech Republic Full Sheet

 Today I received the full Covid stamp sheet from the Czech Republic that honors Rescue Workers and Firefighters. It was designed by Filip Heyduk and this is what he said in an interview about the stamp which can be found here. 

"At the beginning of May, I was approached by the Czech Post about designing a special stamp that would honor emergency service workers and all volunteers instrumental in managing the COVID-19 crisis. We all intensively experienced a new situation – there was a shortage of medical supplies, people made their own protective masks, which they delivered to hospitals and distributed among the needy. The facemask became a symbol of this time and an inspiration for my proposal.

The subject of the postage stamp are six protective facemasks with graphic symbols representing various types of essential workers: healthcare professionals, soldiers, firefighters, police, postal workers and volunteers. The masks are interconnected to symbolize cooperation. However, a problem came up when I tried to squeeze all the masks onto one stamp. There were simply too many of them and I didn’t want to make the masks too small. In the end, I persuaded the Czech Post, which was very accommodating and allowed me to divide the motifs into two stamps, one next to the other. At last, a double stamp was created, which actually looks much better and much more interesting."

The description, as found on the Czech Post page, for one side of the stamp is as follows: 

This stamp comes out to appreciate the work of the front-line fighters. It contains simplified symbols of firefighters, members of the army and police. The army is represented by the right side of their mask. The polka dot face mask refers to everyone else who helped each other and kept together during this difficult time.

Type of stamp	Definitive stamp identified with a letter
Date of issue	24.06.2020
Face value/Price:	19,00 CZK
Print sheets	25+25 stamps; se-tenant with the stamp issue A Thank You stamp for rescue workers
Size (mm)	30 x 23 mm

And the other side: 

This stamp comes out to appreciate the work of the front-line fighters. It contains simplified symbols of healthcare workers, postal workers and members of the army. The army is represented by the left side of their mask. The polka dot face mask refers to everyone else who helped each other and kept together during this difficult time.

Type of stamp	Definitive stamp identified with a letter
Date of issue	24.06.2020
Face value/Price:	19,00 CZK
Print sheets	25+25 stamps; se-tenant with the stamp issue A Thank You stamp for firefighters
Size (mm)	30 x 23 mm
Graphic designer	Filip Heyduk

And for both stamps:

At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, also known as coronavirus, hit the world and later the Czech Republic. Sequence analysis revealed that it belonged to the same species as SARS-CoV, the virus that causes SARS. The new virus differs from SARS-CoV in the sequence of some viral proteins that suppress antiviral immunity and activate inflammation. In the Czech Republic, the first case appeared in early March. Subsequently, the government ordered several measures to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the new type of coronavirus. One of these regulations was the introduction of compulsory wearing of face masks. Masks have become a symbol of today. They are a phenomenon best illustrating the current situation.