Today, RIVM announced that a record number of new corona infections had been detected: almost 35,000. Former minister and founder of the COT Institute for Security and Crisis Management Uri Rosenthal, together with the employers’ organization VNO-NCW, argues for relaxed rules regarding quarantine. “In 2 weeks we will be at 1 million people who cannot go to work,” said Rosenthal.
The government’s corona policy will again be faced with a considerable challenge. The lockdown measures are not working, because the number of infections is rising to record highs. And because the RIVM de quarantaineregels has tightened up, as a result of which almost everyone with a corona infection has to quarantine for ten days, there are big problems. It cannot be the case that in two weeks about 20 percent of the working population will have to sit at home because of an omikron infection.
And so Rosenthal and the VNO-NCW have started lobbying to relax quarantine rules. As far as they are concerned, the rules of the authoritative and ‘scientific’ RIVM can simply be thrown overboard if the business community becomes too much of a burden. This is how they adjust One today for that boosted people no longer in insulation would have to, because that is not necessary in Belgium either. They conveniently ignore the fact that even boosted people can still spread the virus.
Now that the omikron variant is dominant and the lockdown measures have apparently not worked, this is of course a discussion for nothing. In principle, things could just open again and only the elderly, the weak and other risk groups should be a little careful. But this appeal from the VNO-NCW and Uri Rosenthal once again gives the impression that corona policy can be negotiated if it all threatens to get just a little too tedious. And that, of course, is fuel on the fire for many people.
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Unvaccinated parents who want to take their children to swimming lessons alone must get a judge to challenge that nonsensical QR code. And every entrepreneur who tries to think in terms of possibilities to open up is ignored. But the VNO-NCW can simply ask whether the RIVM rules can be adjusted, because ‘otherwise we won’t make it’. If the cabinet starts to listen to this, or if the RIVM suddenly comes up with ‘new scientific insights’, then all support for corona policy will probably disappear in one fell swoop.
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