Slowly but surely, the Dutch seem to finally take social distancing more seriously. After last weekend saw large groups of people going to beaches, nature reserves and on the streets, it seems that now more people are finally respecting new rules.
Besides some youth getting fined for partying and disrespecting the rules, it seems that this weekend has been much quieter, reports NOS.
Some beaches and forests closed
Because of the crowds last weekend, some municipalities have decided to deter any potential beach-goers by closing down beaches, or the roads leading to them. This is the case for the beaches in Westland, which have their entrances closed down, or the road to Wassenaarse Slag, which has also been closed.
Elsewhere, municipalities have asked potential beachgoers to simply not go, such as in Noordwijk, Zaandvort and Bloemendaal. And despite the good weather, the call seems to have worked, as few people have shown up this weekend to soak up on Vitamin D.
For natural reserves like forests, authorities have been quick to issue fines for those who did not respect the necessary social distance of 1.5 metres. For example, in the forests close to Baarn, which was infamously busy last weekend, now have limited access, and the parking areas have been disabled.
People have still tried to avoid these new rules by parking by the roadside, but rest assured that they got fined nonetheless.
Organic markets in The Hague and Ede closed down
Some market stalls in the Hague tried to get rid of their produce for cheap, thus risking to attract a lot of customers. The police intervened quickly, and some of these stalls were closed in the meantime.
A similar situation occurred in Ede, where people were forced down to close down their fruit and vegetable stalls after too many people showed up to buy.
Sellers in Gouda were luckier and allowed to keep their stalls open, as people respected the social distancing rules.
Throughout the Netherlands, empty streets
This weekend, normally busy areas bustling with activity were eerily empty. While it can be a bit disheartening to see these places empty, they also provide for some interesting new views and perspectives over places that we might be too busy to observe in our day to day lives.
De Koopgoot op zondagmiddag. #Rotterdam #covid19 pic.twitter.com/7G8LI3vMGv
— Frans Blok (@franswillemblok) March 22, 2020
Leeg Amsterdam vanochtend, op Fuji Pro 400H met de Hasselblad. pic.twitter.com/som3LZpxc4
— Gosse Bouma 📽 (@Gosserd) March 26, 2020
If you’d like to see more of a place like Amsterdam being empty, we have an article for you about that. It also has a video from 1922, in case you want to see these now empty streets full of activity again, a full century ago.
Do you have any interesting photographs of our now empty cities? Share them below in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Feature Image: n0ramaria/Instagram