Coronavirus/CoVid-19/Pandemic/Health
Coronavirus In The Netherlands — Update 7 April 2020
I’m truly sorry for the delay, but it is chaos at home while my daughters need my laptop. So, I will take that for granted at the moment.
Minister Hoekstra stays with his former reaction for conditions for European loans. He still thinks it is reasonable and sensible to give conditions to euro countries to loan money from the European Stabilization Mechanism (ESM) to recover their countries economy. It was established in 2008 for European countries in need. According Hoekstra is giving conditions and requirements is not only in favour of The Netherlands but also of other countries themselves. Hoekstra said that The Netherlands seriously want to be respectful with other countries, but he also said that we emphasized that the European Central Bank (ECB) has already made a lot of money available for emergency measures and buys up 750 billion euro in government bonds, which makes it easier for countries to borrow.
The questions still are when we will play soccer again? We don’t know, but there are a lot of conversations going on about if it will be possible without an audience. In Germany, The Bundesliga is already continuing their training without the audience. Always with the right distance.
The Government will guaranties for 12 billion euros for entrepreneurs and their companies to stay in debt. It is about the surety of the government, which means that these companies will get credit to order their supplies. The banks and insurers are holding back to be guarantied for companies.
In the German state, NorthRhine Westfalen is 107 place for IC patients in hospitals. These patients will be in 68 hospitals. At the moment there are 37 Dutch IC patients in Germany.
When this crisis is over a lot of companies will look at how many incomes they miss. As well as Theater Group Maastricht. They will have a very hard time because of the Coronavirus. They have 130 show cancelled. That means they will miss 7 tons of loss in their bank account. “If you subtract the costs that we do not currently incur, then a shortage of 3.5 tons will remain at the bottom of the line, which means that we are heading for bankruptcy.”, says Servé Hermans to 1Limburg. Until June this year, Theater Group Maastricht would play “The Great Gatsby”, “Jungfrau” and “De Geheime Tuin” in theatres. Jungfrau and De Geheime Tuin can still be planned in the new theatre season. That will not work with The Great Gatsby.
Because of this crisis, fewer people will look for a house to buy. So the house prices will be less next year. How much it will get lower, isn’t predictable according to the Dutch bank ABN AMRO. You can look into that after a long term of the Dutch Coronavirus rules is in force. Because of the Coornacrisis, the economy will fall and the incomes of the citizens will get lower. A the same time the mortgage interest will go up.
A bus with a lot of employment agency workers (39) is taken away from the road. In this were 39 people who were getting fined, all separately. They couldn’t get the 1,5-metre distance.
The Hague has an idea to help young people hanging around and doing nothing. They are helping in making food packages for the food bank.
Minister Van Rijn bought 30 million mouth masks for the health carers. The health carers will need 4,5 mouth masks per week to protect them. He says: “It is an absolute Bonanza. Every country wants caps and there are all kinds of shady ways to get it.”
Country roads closed for motorcyclists and cycling clubs for the Easter weekend. These are a lot of those spots people cycling through the country roads when the weather is fantastic and when there are special days. That is the result of a consultation between the safety regions in the Netherlands. Last weekend in Nijmegen, cyclist and motorcyclist were everywhere and nobody could get the 1,5-metre distance. So these country roads will be closed for Easter weekends. To protect everybody. “They had nowhere to go and therefore could not keep a meter and a half away.”, says mayor Hubert Bruls. “We regret these measures, we are sorry that they are deemed necessary. But we are not going against it. We understand that this is necessary,” said the Royal Dutch Motorcyclists Association in a response.
Also, living shops need to regulate their customers to protect people and need to get the 1,5-metre distance. Think about fewer customers per time in the shops.
Also, mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam says that there will be more agents in streets to control these streets for the 1,5 distance and if people stay home. Police will give people fines when they don’t get the 1,5-metre distance. Parks will be closed when necessary.
Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) gives Covid-boxes to patients with Coronavirus who don’t need to the hospital. At this way, they can regulate their temperature and their illness. It is for people with mild symptoms for those that hospital treatment is not (longer) necessary.
The police have given fines to people, already 1400 for violating the Coronarules. Think about people giving no distance to each other and still coming together. It is 390 euros for adults and 95 for minors.
There are 292 new Coronapatiens in hospitals and there are 234 deaths in The Netherlands. That says RIVM. There are more new patients then Monday. In total, we have 19.580 Corovirus patients, 7.427 patients in hospitals and 2.101 deaths.
Press conference 7 April 2020:
Prime Minister Mark Rutte is proud of everybody in The Netherlands. He says that we all keep up the rules very well. He also says we still need to do that. We still need to keep the 1,5-metre distance. “We can’t make a bigger mistake. Otherwise, everything will be destroyed in no time. Keep this up.”, says Rutte. He also says that everybody must stay home with easter as much as possible.
Also, there are conversations that we must download an app from our AppStore to be able to know where we are and if we are in contact with citizens with Coronavirus. But what does this do with our privacy? Thay is the conversation going on.
The Netherlands considers making a rule that everybody in The Netherlands must download an app to say where you are at that moment to know if you are with someone with Coronavirus. Minister De Jonge says this could be the new norm as long as the privacy will be safeguarded. In Germany, Russia, Israel, China used such an app already. On the press conference yesterday, the Cabinet says it will not exclude the thoughts of using this app on your phone. “That app also offers solutions that all kinds of people know very quickly that someone has corona, or turns out not to have it,” says Prime Minister Rutte. The opportunity for using an app will be searched for in the next few weeks. These apps must be helping the Municipal health services in all areas to detect our health if we have te Coronavirus. De Jonge says that the app will tell you if you have been around people with the Coronavirus: “It is testing, it is tracking and then reporting from home.”
It is not sure when we are going ‘back to normal’. But when we are ready, the road is still very long. We are still thinking about the future. We only can go that road if we all still keep up the rules from the government.
A lot of soccer clubs want to finish the competition. Even it if is without an audience. If the RIVM is saying yes, then the Royal Dutch Football Union will finish this.
The government will invest in 11 million euro support for the local journalists and their companies. That support will come from a temporary foundation. Minister Slob (Media) will give one time, the 11 million euro. In total for the local journalistic companies will be between 4000 ens some of ten thousand euros.
A 107-year-old woman survived the Coronavirus. Her family thought she wouldn’t survive it, but she did. The family is very happy that she is still alive.
If the Coronavirus measures could be relaxed, then there are conditions we should follow. That is what the Dutch Outbreak Management Team (OMT) advises our cabinet, the government’s main adviser during the Coronacrisis. The plea says we have to change our policy so far. We need more testing capacity to detect people infected with the virus and then isolate them. The health care system must not be over-requested and they need to recover too.
People must stay home, that is what we have been told so many times. That is ok, but still, people are trying to go abroad through the borders of Germany and The Netherlands. This is also said on digital billboards to let people rethink going back. The text on those billboards: “Reise nicht notwendig? Bleiben Sie bitte zu Hause!”
Always check the (latest) facts with your country.
The numbers 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.
Read more stories about the Coronavirus:
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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