Only necessary trips, no team sport: the cabinet is further restricting public life

The new measures boil down to the adage: limit your contacts and stay at home as much as possible. Only those who have a vital profession are allowed to go to work. Just like in the spring, train, bus and tram are only for necessary journeys.

The precise details of the package are still being worked on, including in the Mayors’ Security Council that will meet on Monday evening. The cabinet would not have decided whether or not there should be a mandatory mask. It would take a long time to legislate. Closing shops in the evening is an option, as are new restrictions for the catering industry.

There has recently been considerable discussion within the cabinet about the approach. Unlike in the spring, ministers representing economic interests have been given a louder voice. They do not want to lock the Netherlands again. Unlike in March and April, there is also more attention for the other damage caused by such a lockdown: social loneliness, stress, not being able to exercise or go to school.

From hamer to from in

The cabinet was under heavy pressure to intervene more sharply. RIVM reported nearly 7,000 new infections on Monday. That number has to go down through a strategy called “the hammer and the dance.” The virus is hit hard with the hammer, after which the dance begins with the drowsily beaten opponent. The dance requires good source and contact research and people who adhere to basic measures. The Dutch are not good at dancing with the virus.

The Red Team therefore insisted on the tough approach. This group of experts from various disciplines finds the cabinet’s ambitions far too meager. With earlier measures, the government was aiming for a reproduction number of 0.9. In that case, 10 infected persons caused nine new infections. The virus will then slowly die out, it would not be under control until just before Christmas. If the cabinet now delivers a hard blow and manages to keep the R at 0.7, the virus will be under control sometime in the first week of November, the Red Team thinks.

IC doctor Diederik Gommers argued for a complete lockdown. Medical specialists warned Monday that a ‘tsunami’ to corona patients is imminent if the cabinet does not take stricter action. Patients who will displace other care.

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