That is the outcome of the Catshuis meeting on Monday. The cabinet is still in talks with the mayors and employers’ organization VNO-NCW, among others. Among other things, to emphasize that stricter enforcement is required this time. The final measures will be announced on Tuesday.
With the relaxation, the cabinet is taking a new step out of the lockdown after schools reopened earlier and shops were allowed to open their doors again. The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) already advised that the catering industry and culture could also get out of the lock, but with opening hours until 8 p.m. Closing in the early evening is difficult for theaters and cinemas, because performances are just starting or are still in progress. In order to partially meet the needs of the sector, the aim is now to reach 10 p.m.
It will not be a full reopening, the relaxations are accompanied by the return of the corona admission ticket. A permanent seat is mandatory in the catering industry. Also, spectators are not yet allowed to sit in sections in the stadiums: they must this time really be spread over the stadium.
social pressure
While the infection numbers are rising sharply, the cabinet dares to lift the lockdown further, even now that the number of corona patients in hospitals has been cautiously increasing for a few days. Nevertheless, the cabinet is positive. Now that the signals are mounting increasingly emphatically that the omikron variant is causing a relatively mild course of disease, the cabinet thinks that further relaxation is justified at the moment.
Pressure to ease further has increased in recent days. At the previous ‘weighing moment’ there was only good news for the MBOs and higher education that were allowed to open again, just like the gyms and the shops. To their fury, restaurant owners, café owners, but also theatres, cinemas and museums were left out of the equation. Protests followed: catering bosses who still opened their doors, sometimes under the guise of a demonstration, theaters that turned into hair salons and museums where sports were suddenly possible. Mayors warned the cabinet that it is becoming increasingly difficult for enforcers now that institutions, entrepreneurs and citizens are increasingly openly breaking the rules.
Partly under social pressure, the Netherlands is now moving on from the lock. With the new relaxations approaching, the number of infections is expected to increase even further with possibly an increase in the number of hospital admissions. The past few days have shown what other problems high infection rates can lead to: schools that may be open, but have to send class after class home because of the quarantine rules. The GGD sounded the alarm for the weekend: with a quarter of all primary school students now sitting at home, the remedy is worse than the disease. According to those involved, a relaxation of the quarantine rules for this group of students is on the table. Prime Minister Rutte and Minister Kuipers will announce the details about the quarantine obligation and the conditions for relaxation.