The Urkers themselves attribute the increase in the number of infections to the strong social ties in the traditionally Christian village. “Urk is a social community”, says the new mayor Cees van den Bos, who took office on 1 October. “That is something we are proud of and has brought us a lot.”
But, he adds: that mentality is difficult to break. “People like to visit each other here and meet each other. Preferably just indoors and with more than two or three people. I suspect that some of the infections are caused by this.”
Churches
Although Urk, where 22,000 people live, has twenty churches, according to the mayor, no infections take place there. “According to the GGD, most residents are infected at home or at work,” he says. “We do not see churches recurring in those GGD reports. I am also satisfied with how the churches have set themselves up.”
According to Van den Bos, the number of infections is therefore mainly due to ingrained behavior and habits. The municipality hopes to be able to influence this with a media campaign. Six “community influencers” play a leading role in this, says the mayor. “They say: take those measures seriously, do it now.”
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