The second corona wave is a fact and after the national measures that the cabinet announced two weeks ago, the Netherlands is unable to “get out of the virus” again. The infection figures continue to rise and seven months after the Netherlands was surprised by the corona virus, drastic measures seem to be the only way to break the wave for a second time. There is expected to be another press conference on Tuesday evening.
The effect of the closure of the catering industry at 10 p.m. and the curtailment of group sizes was not reflected in the corona figures last weekend. On Monday, the RIVM announced that it had registered 6,854 new positive corona tests – almost 500 infections more than Sunday, when the counter stood at 6,378.
Meanwhile, the pressure on the cabinet to come up with stricter measures is increasing. The Federation of Medical Specialists described the second wave coming to the Netherlands as a “tsunami” and calls for “action quickly”.
Ernst Kuipers, chairman of the National Network Acute Care (LNAZ), warns that hospital care is heading towards a “significant downscaling of regular care throughout the Netherlands”. In the most pessimistic scenario, that means 75 percent fewer operations and treatments for, for example, heart and cancer patients.
Very limited effect, ‘brace yourself for new measures’
Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) already warned on Saturday that the Netherlands must brace itself for new measures if the number of infections did not decrease last weekend.
The package of measures of 29 September therefore does not seem to have led to the hoped-for behavioral effects. According to the Red Team, a group of independent experts that now has the ear of the cabinet and the House of Representatives, the measures have had a “very limited effect”.
This group of experts believes that the fastest way to get a grip on the virus again and ultimately to be able to relax it again is tough action – a short and strict lockdown, and then resume part of normal life. If the government does not do this, the scenario threatens that the situation will not stabilize until the beginning of 2021.
New measures aimed at limiting social life and travel
Sources from The Hague report that new national measures will follow during the press conference on Tuesday. The motto: drastically reduce the number of contact moments and travel movements. The number of people traveling from home to work, for example, but also to the café, cinema or sports club, must decrease. Social life has to be put on the back burner again.
Far-reaching restrictions or even closure for the catering industry, theaters and sports are not excluded. “You could theoretically think of those kinds of things,” said Prime Minister Mark Rutte before the weekend. A scenario that shows similarities with the “intelligent lockdown” of the spring, although this time the schools will remain open and the nursing homes will remain open for visitors.
In the past week, the prime minister hinted that the situation in which the Netherlands is currently one of the largest corona fires in the world is due to the fact that fewer and fewer people stick to the 1.5 meter distance and wash their hands sufficiently. At the same time, he also acknowledged that the cabinet was unable to “convey the urgency earlier”.
Mistakes have also been made: Rutte acknowledged during the last press conference that the testing policy and the source and contact research are “not perfect”.
The House wants more predictable policy and more perspective
In the meantime, the House of Representatives has called on the cabinet to come up with a clearer and above all more predictable policy. The cabinet hoped for an effective local approach, but this has not got off the ground sufficiently.
By categorizing regions as vigilant, worrisome and serious, the virus would be contained with a “local toolbox” of timely measures. Since the announcement – at the beginning of August – the toolbox has still not been filled. A lack of clarity led to a wait-and-see attitude among the regions and the cabinet.
Rob Jetten (D66), who called on the cabinet to draw up a roadmap, expects Rutte and De Jonge to come up with a plan in the short term. “If corona policy becomes more predictable and people get perspective, they will be more willing to adhere to restrictive measures.”
What the new measures are and how the cabinet will ensure a more predictable corona policy, Prime Minister Rutte and Minister De Jonge are expected to announce on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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