PELHRIMOV, Czech Republic (AP) — A year after the Czech Republic recorded its first death from the coronavirus, the central European nation paused this week to remember all the citizens who lost their lives in the pandemic. By the end of the day, the number had surpassed 25,000. Few imagined last March that the country of 10.7 million eventually would have one of the world’s highest per capita death tolls. But it’s not just grim statistics that have torn the fabric of Czech life. There’s always a personal story behind each life lost. And the deaths of some people affected entire communities. Jaromir Vytopil, the country’s longest-serving bookseller, was one of them.
