As expected, things are getting worse before they get better in the Netherlands. For instance, our previous record was around 13,000 infections in a day, back in December 2020. We leapfrogged over that record last Thursday – clocking in at 16,300 infections (!), a jump of more than 3,300 in one day. The numbers will start getting limited by our current test capacity soon.
There was another press conference on Friday, with more measures added (official government website in English). Consider it a partial lockdown. We’re back to ‘work at home unless impossible’, with non-essential stores closing at 18:00 and essential stores like supermarkets and pet stores closing at 20:00. Cafés and restaurants also need to close their doors at 20:00. This will last until early December. Part of me thinks the government went straight for three weeks to ensure that stores would be closed in the evenings for Black Friday, which was definitely the start of our wave last year. At the moment there is no curfew, though.
The government also said that they were looked into a 2G approach versus the 3G approach we currently have for some things. The “G” comes from the Dutch verbs gevaccineerd, genezen of getest (vaccinated, healed or tested). The current measures are in place to give the government time to change the law to allow for 2G (vaccinated or healed) without the possibilities of getting tested to enter certain areas anymore. Although it also feels like the government is shifting some of the responsibility by stating that certain professions can go for either 2G and not have assigned seating or 3G with assigned seating.
As you can imagine this is a bit of a sensitive subject in The Netherlands. A few hundred people (or a bit more) decided to protest outside of the building where the press conference was held while it was being broadcast. And of course some people come with the intent to damage stuff, not just protest. You can see lots of images of the protest over at regio15.nl, in Dutch. For some reason people decided to vandalize a café (photo taken by me yesterday):
The owner figured something would happen and had moved all furniture inside by 15:00 on Friday, but that didn’t stop the vandalism. The damage for the glass wind screens was estimated at a few hundred euros, whereas the damage for the building’s window was around 10,000 euros (omroepwest.nl in Dutch). And how did rioters cause that damage, you ask?
Why, they literally pulled bricks out of the sidewalk, of course. Oh, and they also threw bricks and fireworks at the police. Who eventually turned a water cannon on them to get them to leave (see also the regio15.nl article linked above). Five people were arrested.
As usually happens in 2021, there is already a virtual donation started for the café owner (omroepwest.nl, in Dutch).
