This will probably have consequences for amateur sports and the catering industry. Insiders emphasize that the lessons of the ‘intelligent lockdown’ of the spring have now led to new insights. Details will follow on Tuesday evening at a new press conference by Prime Minister Rutte and Minister De Jonge, but the starting point is that the schools and shops remain open as much as possible and that visits to the nursing homes remain possible.
Furthermore, the urgent request will be to stay at home as much as possible and to avoid visitors there as much as possible. That cannot be checked at home, but the cabinet is counting on the effect of social control, just like in the spring. It is not yet clear what the new line exactly means for meetings in the catering and cultural sector. A ban on team sport for adults (from the age of 18) is expressly being considered. This can significantly limit social traffic on the weekend. A restriction of public transport for necessary purposes is also on the table, but it has not yet been decided.
“We have to brace ourselves for additional measures,” warned Minister De Jonge of Public Health on Monday. Behind the scenes, the cabinet prefers customization with targeted interventions (for example closing the cafes, but not the restaurants with enough space), but that it struggles with that: every exception leads to new enforcement problems.
Insiders emphasized on Monday that the cabinet has reached a complex point in the fight against the pandemic anyway. It was only two weeks ago that the last restrictions on the hospitality industry and sports clubs were announced. Everyone was also asked to work from home and receive no more than three people there. The hope then was that the virus could be fought without it having to become too unpleasant. On October 20 follow a calm evaluation.
It is now clear that the number of travel movements has not decreased substantially since then. Now that the number of infections has not yet shown a downward trend, one asks many of the voters and experts are now calling for stricter measures, while the effect of the previous interventions cannot actually be measured yet. RIVM director Van Dissel recently emphasized in the House of Representatives that the result of the measures in the spring only started to become visible in a stabilizing number of infections after two weeks. Given the current waiting time in the test streets of the GGD, a few more days probably have to be added.
Nevertheless, the cabinet feels compelled to take action. There is a risk that the policy will now become firmer than was necessary, but the alternative is to wait until the end of this week. If it then turns out that no effect is still visible, a few more days have been lost. Experts within and outside the Outbreak Management Team also insist on rapid action. With the current numbers of infections – another day record of 6,854 positive tests on Monday – it is a matter of waiting until the hospitals are filled with corona patients. The Federation of Medical Specialists on Monday warned of ‘a tsunami’ of hospital admissions and urged the cabinet to urgently and firmly intervene.
In many places, care has already been scaled down, as well as source and contact research by the GGDs. The first undermines public health, the second an adequate view of the trouble spots. Only if the country puts itself on a chain for a few weeks again will there be room for targeted measures again, is the belief in and around the cabinet. The autumn holiday (now in the Northern Netherlands, next week in the rest of the country) is seen as a new threat because many people will be inclined to go out and about.
Spain laughs off his sleeve
As far as the distant Bilbao, in the north of Spain, it has been noticed that the corona virus is going in the wrong direction in the Netherlands. ‘While the Netherlands in the spring looked down on the countries in southern Europe and criticized the way they handled the pandemic, it has now reached a record number of 6,504 infections in a day,’ wrote the regional newspaper. The mail Monday.
It is so bad, the journalist went on, that “the government had to throw even its out-of-the-way views on face masks.” And when there were also shortages of the virus inhibitor remdesivir, ‘the Dutch drama’ was complete, she said. Between the lines the gloom shines about that country that always thinks it knows better than the rest of the world.
An explanation for the bad corona numbers? Perhaps it is because of ‘the chaotic measures in the Netherlands’ – the term comes from the national newspaper The world. Just the hassle around mouth caps. First they had to go to certain regions, then across the country. That is, it is advised. At the same time, supermarkets may refuse entry to non-carriers. And while children from the age of 13 must wear a mouth mask in public indoor spaces, that advice does not apply in the classroom.
You can taste the amazement at such a liberal approach. Because the only threat? ‘That there will be another intelligent lockdown – one of those lockdowns in which the citizens can decide for themselves whether they stay inside.’
Meanwhile, the Spanish government is refraining from revenge or ridicule. She keeps a cool head and for the time being does not set any special requirements for travelers from the Netherlands. They have to fill out a health form, that’s all.
Vice versa, travelers coming from Spain must be quarantined in the Netherlands for ten days. Even if they come from the Canary Islands – an area where per 100 thousand inhabitants almost four times as few infections are detected as in the Dutch leader South Holland.
Maartje Bakker
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