You were probably wondering what ‘Noodwaarschuwing: extreem ernstige melding’ means since you’ve just got that text at phone. It’s an NL-ALERT and it’s serious folks!
Did you just get a big rumbling message on your phone? And you could only read ‘keep your distance’? Well, you’ve just received an NL-ALERT text message sent by the government to remind everybody to stay at home if they have a cough, cold or fever and to keep their distance. Nice of them to also include an English line for all your internationals here.
People were out and about yesterday
Many Dutch people went outside yesterday and enjoyed the sunshine. This is already a risky move in this corona-era, but many people were astonished that people flocked together at beach towns and parks. Just look at this picture from near the Cherry Blossom Park at Amstelveen (near Amsterdam)
We know that these Japanese Cherry Blossom trees are nice. But damnit people! That's not 1,5m distance, there's even a frickin sign there. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS BUT DO NEED QUARANTINE 🤯 #Amsterdam #Amstelveen (📸 @FeministCtulhu ) #coronavirus #covid19Nederland pic.twitter.com/lPMC8Px9uA
— DutchReview (@Dutchreviewing) March 21, 2020
Check out our coronavirus guide
We’ve created a guide with everything you need to know about the coronavirus in the Netherlands. There’s much talk about the Dutch strategy to counter corona, you can read more about that extremely difficult debate right here.
Rutte has also stated that a lockdown is still an option, but not the way to go right now since the ICU units are still sufficiently available.
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