Coronavirus/CoVid-19/Pandemic/Health

Coronavirus In The Netherlands — Update 17 April 2020

Here is another update about the Coronavirus in The Netherlands. Always remember to stay home and stay safe.

Petting zoos in Den Bosch (Brabant) are going to lease guinea pigs. They see that people have more time to take care of an animal, but after the Coronavirus crisis, people don’t have time anymore. When people don’t have time anymore, they can bring back the guinea pigs. “We want to prevent people from just buying animals in the pet store, which they then dump at a shelter when children have to go back to school after a while. You will receive two guinea pigs, litter, hay, food and a large cage. That costs 75 euros and 25 euros is a deposit.” says Joey Jansen of De Bossche Hoeve. The foundation also came up with a solution for lonely elderly people. “A guinea pig may be too much work for them. That is why we provide them with a bird with cage and food for free.” The elderly can keep them at home until the end of the corona crisis. “To talk to and to be busy with,” says Jansen.

Expired driving licenses stay longer valid as it is very difficult to get a new one. That is why The House of Representatives decided to relax the rules. Car drivers with a drivers licence that is expired between 16 March and I June 2020 are allowed to drive with it. This rule is only for people who are on the road in The Netherlands.

The Cabinet got the advice, months ago, to give the nursing homes more protection gears. The Dutch news organization NOS did a reconstruction about this. Still, nursing homes and home care facilities will get these protection gears sooner from next Monday on. A lot of people from those homes died. There are 900 of the 2500 nursing homes who have a lot of Coronavirus infections. Hundreds of elderly — of these homes — died. Minister De Jonge of Health says it is possible that this issue had something to do with all these deaths. He also says that giving the protection gear was meant for the hospitals where the Coronavirus patients were in the first place.

Minister kreeg al weken signalen over dreigende tekorten in verpleeghuizen

Het kabinet is al ruim een maand geleden door de experts van het Outbreak Management Team en door belangenorganisaties…

nos.nl

In Arnhem, people with a migration background are going to make surgical masks on a large scale. The main goals are yo make 100.000 mouth masks per day. The Refugee Company — who brought two machines to The Netherlands — is the initiator. These mouth masks will be suitable for health care staff. “It is great that in this way Arnhemmers with a refugee background can contribute to fighting the Coronavirus,” says councillor Cathelijne Bouwkamp to Omroep Gelderland. The machines will be placed in a sheltered workshop in Arnhem.

The European Parlement wants a sort of Eurobonds, but they will call it differently. That is what the world leaders must discuss during their video meeting next week. It also could be a Coronabond. Just to help other countries who have a weak economy. This could be in the form of government bonds. Today, the Parliament made a resolution to call leaders to find the money for it. This could be in like the Marschall plan to help various EU economies on top of it after the crisis. Last week, the European finance ministers agreed on a financial aid package for countries that were hit very hard by the Coronavirus crisis.

Dit zijn de winnaars en verliezers van het Europees akkoord

Maar ook Italië heeft niet op alle fronten zijn zin gekregen. Het woord eurobonds, de gezamenlijke Europese…

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Prime Minister Mark Rutte wants that all the apps that will be tested for using to know when you’re having the virus or not, the privacy and safety are the number one priority: “There is a lot to do about the apps, but it is not the case that Hugo de Jonge and I suddenly have a hobby to develop apps and keep an eye on everyone.”

Privacywaakhond neemt zeven 'corona-apps' onder de loep

De Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens kijkt naar zeven verschillende 'corona-apps' die worden ontwikkeld. De privacywaakhond…

nos.nl

Catering agency Mise en Place is filing for bankruptcy as they can’t handle the situation of the Coronavirus crisis. They have been hit very hard during this crisis. It is only about the Dutch side of these companies. They are one of the first known-companies that has been filed for bankruptcy. They have 160 employments and they have 3600 temporary workers. This company was found in 1994. “We are a healthy company, but our international turnover has fallen overnight to almost nothing,” says director Hubert Ummels. “The costs for offices, cars, systems and other overheads will continue as usual, so it is very difficult to maintain such a situation for more than two months.”, he continues.

Prime Minister says that it is unacceptable that the cell towers have been set on fire. “Totally unacceptable, incredibly stupid. You play with life and death.” Rutte did not want to comment on the reasons for the arsonists. “You read a lot about conspiracy theories, but I would like to leave them open.”, he says.

Waarom worden door heel Nederland zendmasten in brand gestoken?

In het Brabantse Veldhoven stonden vanmorgen twee zendmasten in brand en bij Oudenbosch woedde vannacht ook brand bij…

nos.nl

“The Netherlands is approachable in terms of solidarity, but also looks at the short and long term. We are only at the beginning of this economic situation.” That is the response of Minister of Finance Hoekstra to the statements of French President Macron. Macron says that countries like The Netherlands are not really solidarity with Italy to help them financially. “I think it is wise not to comment on all texts from different capitals,” Hoekstra said. He wanted to say that the EU is all about trade. “But also a lot of things more.”, says Hoekstra.

Six safety regions are asking young people to share tips on how to chill with each other while adhering to anti-coronavirus measures. Minister Grapperhaus for Justice and Security believes that young people need to chilling must more effectively, thus he supports the initiative of the Safety regions. The safety regions asked these young people to think about how we cill together safely. With the hashtag #slimmerchillen, they are asking for tips. All entries make a chance to win between 10 and 50 euros. Grapperhaus says: “smarter chilling = corona killing.”

There will be a vising rule for family members from patients with the Coronavirus. Until this moment the hospitals must have to find ways if visits were acceptable or not. That wasn’t possible at some places. “The hospitals had to scale up quickly in the beginning and keep the hygiene and precautions intact. We have now written a guide to help you plan your visit. We are still short of materials. When that is better organized, hopefully within now and a fortnight, we can expand this visit arrangement a bit.” explains chairman of the IC association Diederik Gommers.

Always check the (latest) facts with your country.

The numbers and stories are from yesterday or earlier this day. I haven’t seen new numbers so far, when there will be new numbers, rules and interesting situations here in The Netherlands, I will inform you.

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Agnes Laurens is a writer. She writes for the local newspaper. Agnes lives in Bunnik, The Netherlands, with her husband and three daughters. Writing is — aside from playing the violin — one of her passions since childhood. She is on Twitter and Instagram.

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