Social distancing will continue for some time
Translated by Thomas Ansell
As reported by the Omrop Fryslân, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) appeared in a press conference to say that his government is not considering an immediate lifting of Coronavirus regulations, but that this week is an ‘intermediate week’.
He said: “we can’t just spring everything open, we have to look at and prepare for a ‘transition phase’. It requires looking at big societal questions and also practical matters.”
More and more people are coming forward to ask if the regulations could be lifted a by a small margin. Rutte said that this is completely natural, because “what we are asking from people is almost super-human.”
According to the PM and the Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge (CDA), there are three key points to consider before looking at changing the regulations. Firstly, pressure on hospitals, secondly the protection of elderly and vulnerable people, and the thirdly the spread of the virus.
“We could choose to start up workplaces and schools, in order to lessen pressure on families, but then we would also cause significant crowding on public transport and in public space, for example. People shouldn’t immediately be gathering or packed together on the trains and in parks. Such dilemmas must be thought through, otherwise there is a huge risk that we give the virus new impetus”, said Rutte.
Therefore, he said, “if we can relax regulations, we cannot immediately go completely back to normal. We can’t also guarantee that if the virus were to flare up again that we would not have to go backwards toward where we are now.”
During the press conference, the Dutch government decided not to announce any further regulations and said that is hopes to take people in the Netherlands with it when it makes any decisions in the future.
