Number of corona cases is rising rapidly, especially in the Bible belt | Inland

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) registered 15,742 positive tests in the past week, an average of almost 2250 per day. In the week before, there were 11,557 new cases. On a weekly basis, the number of positive tests has increased by 36 percent. That is the fastest increase since July 19, the peak of the fourth wave.

Most positive tests are as usual in major cities. Amsterdam recorded 710 positive tests among residents in the last seven days, compared to 525 the week before. In Rotterdam the number of positive tests rose from 623 to 707, in The Hague from 531 to 540 and in Utrecht from 237 to 282.

Students

In the fourth wave in July, student cities such as Groningen and Nijmegen stood out behind the four major cities. Now the Bible Belt is popping out. Staphorst is an example of this. The Overijssel place has, after Urk, the lowest vaccination coverage among people aged 12 and over in the entire country. In the past seven days, 205 residents have tested positive. The neighboring municipality of Zwolle, with almost eight times as many inhabitants, had 136 positive tests in the same period.

Converted to the number of inhabitants, Staphorst counted almost 1188 positive tests for every 100,000 people last week. In the Netherlands as a whole, there were 90 positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants. A week earlier, Staphorst had ‘only’ 75 confirmed infections. The number of new cases has thus risen by 173 percent.

In the West Brabant municipality of Altena, the number of positive tests rose from 42 to 116 in a week, an increase of 176 percent. Barneveld had almost 44 percent more new cases last week than in the week before, Veenendaal recorded a plus of more than 36 percent and Ede of 21 percent. Other outliers are municipalities such as Renswoude (plus 340 percent), Zwartewaterland (plus 227 percent), Scherpenzeel (plus 66.6 percent) and Neder-Betuwe (plus 31 percent), but these are still fairly low numbers.

Decline

In the previous weeks, the number of positive tests had fallen sharply. As a result, the Netherlands also made progress on the European corona map, from completely red to completely orange, with a view of green, the lowest warning level. That’s on hold for the time being. On the map of next Thursday, Limburg can go to red again, the second highest level. Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel are quickly heading for ‘red’, they can get a higher warning color next week.

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