Catshuis consultation ready, no agreement yet on closing schools | Inland

According to those involved, the OMT has advised to close all sectors that do not serve basic necessities from 5 in the afternoon to 5 in the morning. The limited opening hours should apply to cafes, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, museums and non-essential shops such as clothing and furniture stores. This restriction also applies to non-essential service providers such as hairdressers and zoos, if it is up to the government’s advisory body. There appears to be no disagreement among the most involved ministers on this.

The OMT wants to keep primary and secondary education open, given the scientific evidence for the damage that closure would mean for the development of children. At the same time, the OMT recognizes that most infections occur among primary school children and their parents.

For the cabinet, the most important question is whether schools should close for a while. According to one present, the question remained unanswered during the consultation in the Catshuis, also because the effects of some measures still have to be calculated.

In addition to OMT chairman Jaap van Dissel, bed planners Ernst Kuipers gave a presentation about the pressure on hospitals, and in particular the capacity of the intensive care units. After that, according to one person involved, there was a ‘calm discussion’ about the options.

OMT ‘hopelessly divided’

According to a member, the OMT was ‘hopelessly divided’ during the meeting on Wednesday evening about whether or not the schools should close. For example, there was IC boss Diederik Gommers, who wants a strict lockdown, including closed schools. And the part that wants to keep schools open at all costs. Ultimately, the advisory body stuck to its advice to keep education open and focus more on where the infections are.

In the meantime, dissatisfaction about the division is increasing within the OMT. According to an OMT member, this makes the advice less convincing to the cabinet.

The cabinet will meet further on Friday morning in varying compositions about the measures to be taken. Because whether they should be there is no longer the question, said health minister Hugo de Jonge prior to the consultation.

“There is no question that measures are needed, and that they will be firm. The hospitals can’t take it anymore. Nursing homes can’t take it anymore. Home care is no longer available. We may see next week that the current package of measures helps, but it is probably too little.”

Curfew

Whether the earlier closing of non-essential sectors caused the turnaround in the corona figures was also the question in the Catshuis. Closing schools helps a lot to really reduce the number of infections. Furthermore, the range of measures is not very extensive. The curfew cannot be introduced in the short term, as the cabinet has removed it from the law, assuming it was no longer necessary.

There would also be discussion about further austerity of the advice for home visits. The cabinet will make a decision on Friday about measures to be taken, followed in the evening by a press conference by Prime Minister Rutte and De Jonge.

scaling down care

Minister De Jonge also reported that there are currently 530 corona patients in intensive care. There are still 2030 corona patients in the normal nursing wards. It is inevitable that hospitals will scale down the acute plannable care, which should actually take place within six weeks.

The National Acute Care Network asked De Jonge on Wednesday to announce the so-called 2D phase, in which critical care such as chemotherapy or kidney transplants must be scaled down. De Jonge will make a decision about this on Thursday.

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