Stricter corona measures are returning because healthcare is likely to run into problems. That became yesterday announced at the corona press conference.
Amrish Baidjoe, a field epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is pleased that measures are being taken, but wants to go even further. “I wonder whether the announced measures are sufficient. Moreover, I also miss my own reflection, people are waiting for that. The cabinet should say: we were too early with easing in the autumn and we are too late with new ones. That is one of the reasons why we are now in this acute phase. And that requires serious measures, of which the question is whether that is enough.”
The number of infections has been rising for about 6 to 7 weeks, the number of hospital admissions for 4 to 5 weeks. That is why action should have been taken more quickly, says Baidjoe in NOS Radio 1 News. “You can argue that this will continue to increase if you do nothing. Principle 1 in the outbreak response in infectious diseases is: react quickly. That lesson has still not been learned by our government,” says Baidjoe.
He would have preferred to see even stricter measures, for example that people should work from home instead of only receiving urgent advice. “The number of social contacts has to go down. If that doesn’t happen, we might be tied to a scenario like last year. Then you need long-term measures to bring the curve down. We still have a long winter to go.”
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