As I walk through the supermarket, the only masked person around, I wonder if perhaps we declared victory too quickly
The number of new Coronavirus infections in the municipality of Groningen has risen sharply in one week. Last Sunday (June 27), the RIVM recorded only two new infections, whereas yesterday, on Sunday 4 July, the public health agency recorded 62 infections in just one day. As reported by the GIC.
The municipality of Groningen is also the most Coronavirus-hit area in the province. In recent months, the infection figures have been quite spread over the whole of Groningen. Now, though, most infections are occuring in the municipality of Groningen.
The RIVM recorded 67 infections in the entire province on Sunday, of which 62 in the municipality of Groningen.
What a mystery
It is not yet fully known why the infections are rising so sharply, although simply taking a look around the city provides most of the answers. With everyone now dispensing with face masks, parties taking place across the city, and large-scale events re-started, we can only wonder what might have caused the problem.
It is possible that more positive cases are coming to light because of the ‘test for access’ scheme: according to some specialists, the number of actual infections has always been there, but most people living in a 14-person student association had no reason to get tested.
The rest of the Netherlands has decided that the pandemic is over, too
The numbers of Coronavirus infections are also rising in the rest of the country. On Sunday, 1239 new infections were recorded, which was 104 more than the day before. A week earlier, on Sunday 27 June, there were only 504 infections. In the past seven days, an average of 843 positive tests per day were recorded. That is 36 percent more than the week before.
It would be clear from the national figures that especially young people are becoming infected. The infections mainly occur in the age group between 10 and 29 years old, with a peak in people between 20 and 29 years old. The number of new hospital admissions also remains low.
Image: the Vindicat building the night that restrictions were lifted
