RIVM reported almost 8,000 new corona cases in the past 24 hours today, but we ain’t seen nothing yet, if you ask the epidemiologist Frits Roosendaal who works in Leiden. He thinks we will have to go to 15,000 cases a day before things finally get better in the Netherlands. With all its consequences.
The partial lockdown started last night at 10 p.m. The Netherlands has two weeks to put things in order and reduce the number of infections, otherwise we will simply be stuck in a complete hardcore lockdown, that is the threat of Prime Minister Rutte and De Jonge. It is clear what we have to do: significantly reduce the number of corona infections.
However, that will not happen overnight: given the incubation period of COVID-19, it takes a number of days for someone to develop symptoms, be tested and hear the results. The Leiden epidemiologist Frits Roosendaal is therefore not optimistic about the chances of a rapid turnaround in the contamination figures. In fact, he thinks we’ll go first double, before some hope finally dawns on the horizon.
Which Roosendaal says today in an interview with the Leiden medium Sleutelstad:
“The number of newly counted infections is already alarmingly high, but if the previous measures have indeed not worked, the increase will continue for another ten days. Rosendaal is not surprised if the number doubles to 15,000 a day. ”
That infection rate, which is still to rise by alarming numbers, will put a heavy burden on public institutions:
“Such an increase in cases of illness will hit schools, hospitals and nursing homes hard. More staff at home sick, more chance of outbreaks. And a GGD that only has time for source and contact research in the worst cases. ”
Conditions that we know from Italy from last spring, so. Not a nice prospect, but hopefully it will motivate people to take as few risks as possible. Perhaps we can breathe a bit of relief by Christmas. But so first: strap in…
