Nine out of ten corona fires in the Netherlands are Christian municipalities, the RIVM confirms on Wednesday after reporting Faithful. These are Urk, Bunschoten, Altena, Wierden, Woudenberg, Rhenen, Veenendaal, Scherpenzeel and Zaltbommel.
To determine whether or not a municipality is Christian, RIVM looked at the voting behavior of the residents. Ultimately, 42 municipalities were selected where in the last elections more than 20 percent of the vote went to the SGP or ChristenUnie.
Of the twenty municipalities with the most infections per 100,000 inhabitants, fourteen are Christian, according to calculations by the RIVM. Within the top ten there are even nine.
“It is worrying a bit exaggerated, but we do see this trend”, says Susan van den Hof, epidemiologist at the RIVM, in conversation with Faithful. “And that’s why it seems good to me, without wanting to be stigmatizing, to name it.”
Van den Hof has a comment on the data: it is not known how the positive corona tests are distributed within a municipality. “But it is plausible that the Christian communities are the explanatory factor, because otherwise the connection was not so clear.”
Possible causes for many infections
The epidemiologist lists several possible causes. Families are often larger, so an infected person can infect more family members at home. In addition, people in these municipalities often work for the same company, says Van den Hof. Church attendance may also play a role, but only if people do not obey the rules.
The epidemiologist cites students as the last possible cause. Van den Hof: “Pupils from reformed schools come together from different municipalities and their travel behavior can ensure a wide distribution.”
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