Society will fight its way out of the crisis by vaccinating: that has always been the promise. Now it turns out that a country with a very high vaccination rate, one of the highest in the EU, can still get into trouble. So much so that ‘lockdown-like measures’ are now needed. For many citizens, that message will be difficult to digest or understand. Recently, it has often been about the question of how the trust of the unvaccinated citizen can still be won; about the danger of polarization in society. The new danger is that the confidence of the vast majority who did get vaccinated will be lost.
“It’s just very complicated,” said outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) on Friday evening. Earlier, at the beginning of the crisis, he said something similar: “We have to make 100 percent of decisions with 50 percent of the knowledge.” That was reasonable at the time, but not anymore after a year and a half. Yes, the virus remains unpredictable, but more lessons could have been learned. Such as: do not relax too quickly, even with an attractively low number of infections. Reintroducing measures is more difficult than abolishing them. Another, systematically ignored lesson: don’t make it more beautiful than it is. Not only the infection rates are increasing exponentially. The hubris also boils over immediately as soon as the numbers move in the right direction again.
The cabinet always gives the impression that the ‘old normal’ is within reach. Outgoing minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health, CDA) said on Friday that the Netherlands must run “ten kilometers” extra, but then the “marathon” is really over. If only it were so: as early as September, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) warned that politicians should also prepare for less positive scenarios. The Netherlands and the rest of the world probably still have to for years living with corona and its consequences. Corona measures are still necessary in four of the five scenarios outlined by the WRR and KNAW. That’s the honest story. Be clear about that. Don’t just tell the population that it will be difficult in the short term, but that there is a good chance that Sinterklaas, Christmas and New Year’s Eve will not be the same in the coming years. Ultimately, only in this way can greater disappointment be avoided.
Also read: How the cabinet advisers hope that this time they are listening
The question is also whether the government has its priorities in order. The Netherlands, it turned out this week, wants to get involved diplomatically with the Austrian corona policy: that is so strict that winter sports are not allowed for Dutch people. is in danger. De Jonge said this week that it is “complicated” if each EU country does something different. That sounds untrue from a Dutch mouth: while Europe continued to wear mouth caps, The Hague abolished them, and it was not the only time in the corona crisis that the Netherlands pretended to be an island. Moreover, winter sports are difficult to see as a major public interest.
Particularly troubling is the lack of long-term policy in corona policy. In the first phase, it could be argued that healthcare was not prepared, but where are the initiatives to make hospitals and ICUs corona-proof? They are not there or not enough. Even after a year and a half, we still have to wait for a plan that will make healthcare attractive again. Better salaries, favorable fringe benefits or whatever else is needed to prevent idleness. This problem happened last year. It’s playing now. And also next year. Solving this requires money, but above all vision. With a strengthened healthcare system, the social impact of corona may already have been smaller. The price for the lack of initiative and vision is getting higher and higher. It means that society is overrun and unprepared, neither practically nor mentally. That the QR society, intended as a temporary emergency connection, is gradually taking on a permanent character. And that it is now necessary to think again about excluding certain groups (‘2G’).
Also read: 2G corona policy is a ‘difficult story’, in the Netherlands too
The caretaker cabinet tends to please everyone, including winter sports enthusiasts, but in times of crisis politicians simply have to tell the truth. Of course, unvaccinated people must now also be called upon to make ‘the solidarity choice’, as De Jonge said on Friday. This does not relieve the government of its obligation to prepare for the – very realistic – scenario in which too large a part of the population ultimately does not participate. Rutte said on Friday that it revolves around the question: what can ‘I’, as a citizen, do extra? The question of what the government should do itself is at least as important at the moment.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad of 13 November 2021
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of November 13, 2021
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