Let me first of all state that I firmly believe overreacting and panicking in situations like these cause nothing but harm to society and the welfare of all people. Having said that, I also believe that the Netherlands is responding too little and too late to the fast-spreading coronavirus. Irresolute measures are taken that do not ensure the safety and health of all people.
While countries all over Europe are closings schools (lower education and higher education), the Netherlands choose to only close universities and hogescholen. This decision is based on the fact that these types of schools are at higher risk because of the number of international students. High schools and primary schools do not have this risk. Besides, according to prime minister Mark Rutte, the negative consequences of closing these schools do not weigh up against the benefits.
Well, let me say this. How in the hell do we value the economy over the health of our people in times of crisis? Let parents figure out a way to take care of their kinds and manage to keep working. Let businesses find out ways to battle the loss of income. In other words: let this be taken care of by itself after we take the right precautions to close all schools. In the end, dealing with a threat like this is inevitably going to bring unwanted consequences.
[EDIT 13.03.2020 4:40pm]
During a second press conference, prime minister Mark Rutte said that the Netherlands is capable of taking economic damage as big as 10% of our gross domestic product. Additionally, companies who face financial struggle will get payment extensions from the tax authorities.
Universities and hogescholen
Then on the note of the universities. Why did it have to come so far before these measures were put in place? Don’t get me wrong, I understand bringing a halt to all education for such a long period of time is extremely damaging to the economy. Obviously this negatively impacts the study progress of almost a million students. However, don’t we value the health of these students, staff, teachers, and other employees more than the fact that it will cause long-term inconveniences? And don’t blame the universities for this! Everyone is following the advice by the RIVM (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu), and can’t do anything until they come with clear instructions.
I understand being down-to-earth and reacting with a sober mind to such situations is very much embedded in Dutch culture. The ‘it’s not that bad’ or ‘we’ll see’ attitude is so prevalent, it even influences decision making in parliament. But during a pandemic that is having its grip on the world, this laissez-faire attitude will not protect the people!
Food rationing
Look what happened yesterday right after the press conference by Mark Rutte. People stormed supermarkets literally raiding the entire stock supply, out of fear they would not have enough provisions to survive a pandemic. Obviously this is bullshit and there is no shortage of stock whatsoever, but the fact that people are panicking, scared, and uninformed is the fault of the government and their lack of clear communication. Such a press conference with announced new measures comes for a lot of people as a surprise. The Dutch felt very secure for a long period of time, and the idea that people might lose that security pushed them into irrational actions such as rationing.
All in all, I hope everyone can stay calm and realistic. Yes, this a very scary virus and to this point, there is nothing like certainty or clarity. All we can do is focus on the science and the facts as we know them today. According to the World Health Organization (on March 5th), around 3.4% of all infected have died. Only around 2% of all cases worldwide are people under 20, of which most do not even show sickness. Patients above 80 years old have a 14% fatality rate, for younger people, this is significantly lower. On average, a patient would infect 2.2 other people. In comparison, this is 1.3 for the normal flu.
Current RIVM advice
The advice of the RIVM on the coronavirus as of 13 March is the following:
- Stay home when you feel sick or have a fever and avoid social contact.
- Work from home as much as possible.
- Wash your hands and avoid touching the hands of others.
- For young people: avoid getting in contact with the elderly or those with a lower immune system.
- Events with over 100 people are canceled.
- Hogescholen and universities are closed for live education until at least the 31st of March.
Also read: Corona and the Media: When Free Speech Becomes Hate Speech
To stay up-to-date on the latest developments: AD.nl
4 Comments
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Hey, with this message I would like to express my thoughts and hear your opinion. This is by no means intended to attack you.
Indeed, multiple countries (13 to be exact) closed all schools. And indeed, I believe high schools and primary schools are definitely at risk as well. As you say, the Netherlands is responding too little, but if you close all institutions at this exact moment, no one will be able to work anymore, work is what yet keeps us in motion. Also, they have taken the measure that all kids that can go home if needed, and parents will not be financially fined.
Then, you say we value the economy over the health of our people in times of crises. I see this in a much much different light. You say let business figure out ways to battle the loss of income… So if all music venues, airlines, sports clubs do not have an income for at least three weeks, they will just have to figure it out? All the people that work there, the company itself, the suppliers, the buyers? Sorry to say this… but they will just go bankrupt. And that means no more entertainment, travel, good foods, sports, hobbies for us. At least we are all physically healthy right?
As for universities, perhaps measures should have been taken earlier, I agree. However, that would also have led to huge panicking. Were we prepared for that? See it from a positive angle, at least we have had some time to prepare for this to happen, since we all knew it would eventually. What would you have done regarding this?
So.. food rationing. This is where you lost me a bit. Mark Rutte specifically explained that there is no need to stock up on food. Why are you blaming the government for people panicking, being scared, uniformed? Lack of clear communication? They held an extensive press conference yesterday. What if people would just think rationally? We have enough sources of food, so supermarkets will be stocked every day in these times. Did you stock up on food? I did not, and that is not because of the governments lack of communication.
Lastly, thank you for pointing out the facts in the last paragraph! I am very curious to hear your opinion and what you would have done in case you were part of the government!
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment. I would like to point out that these words (besides the health facts) are based on my opinion. I am fully aware of the extremely bad consequences ‘putting a country on lockdown’ has on the economy and motion of society. Yes, a lot of people will end up having to stay out of work to take care of their children. Yes, businesses might take some hard hits (perhaps risk bankruptcy) but in my opinion, those are all not more important than preventing a worst-case scenario like in Italy or China.
Large corporations should have financial safety nets for such crises. Those who don’t I strongly feel like they should be aided by the government. The same goes for people having to say out of work, they should be compensated similar to a paid leave for sickness.
Regarding your comment about panic in universities, I must disagree. Working and studying in a university myself and experiencing both the perspective of an employee and a student I can say that I found the communication very little, late, and often confusing. Yesterday I noticed that most students found out about the new measures in the media, almost a full hour before they heard from university officials. To me, this caused more panic than it would have done when early on all scenarios would be weighted and communicated to students, so they could have prepared better on what was coming.
The part about food rationing I would like to say the following. With me saying the blame is on the government I do not mean the blame of people rationing, I mean the fact that the press conference came as a shock to many who assumed for long that the situation in the Netherlands was stable and safe enough. This sudden change of strategy made the public panic, and resort to food rationing. I believe that whenever social chaos emerges as a result of communication, or the lack of, from the government, the consequences lie in the hands of parliament. To make my message more clear I added 2 sentences to this paragraph.
Thank you for taking the time to read my piece and leave a comment!
Thank you for your well-argued reply!
Regarding the corporations. I totally get where you are coming from.However.. where should this money come from? If you aid business and people who have to stay out of work, other business and people who do work feel like they have to pay for the rest!
As for universities, I am sorry to hear that the communication was very late, that was not a wise move. This is the mistake of the university then? Since universities as Groningen and Enschede were informed before the official statement was released.
As for the press conference and food rationing. Okay, I get your point. How would you have done this?
I am just curious to hear how you would have handled the situation concerning since you do not agree with how the current measures were taken!
Looking forward to your reply!
As a blogger, it is not my job to come up with governmental solutions. I’m merely critiquing what I believe is not done correctly. I think there are very smart people working at all the ministries who are rightfully skilled to come up with solutions. Desperate times call for drastic measures.
In hindsight, I believe the government could’ve been more direct with communication to the people like they were yesterday. In my opinion, if they had done that from the start, the panic and chaos would’ve been less bad. But again, it is not up to me to come up with solutions, but I am simply giving my opinion on the situation.
Thank you for your comments and well-argued opinion!