Do you remember a time before you had to reach for the face mask whenever you wanted to enter a public space? It feels like a lifetime. From Saturday, June 26, you will no longer have to wear one if you can keep a 1.5-metre distance.
The Dutch government is also scrapping the advice to work from home — provided you can keep the distance from your colleagues, reports the NOS.
Distance is key
The advice remains that you can only remove the mask at work or on public transport if you can keep the golden 1.5 metres. For those who work in situations where this isn’t possible, the advice is to keep working from home.
The Dutch cabinet is still awaiting advice from the Outbreak Management Team about whether or not masks should still be worn in supermarkets.
De Jonge remains positive
Yesterday, the outgoing Health Minister, Hugo de Jonge, said that the cabinet is rethinking all current measures.
“It’s just going really well,” he told the NOS. “Vaccination is going very fast, we see that the infection figures and the hospital figures are falling tremendously. That means that we can take the next step on Friday and it will take effect a week later.”
READ MORE | Vaccination rates in the Netherlands are skyrocketing
Earlier this week, it was leaked that we may see even more relaxations from June 26.
What do you think of the Dutch government’s road to reopening? Tell us in the comments!
Feature Image: AndrewLozovyi/Depositphotos
I think it is better to be safe than sorry. Face masks should be mandatory till end of July, because people would think that they can keep a distance, but they can’t due to rush in the market, trains or other crowded places. For sure, everyone will move out of the houses given the summers and a long duration of staying at home.
EXACTLY!!!!! People are not vaccinated FULLY yet, lots of people (myself included) JUST got their first shot – means that antibodies will be effective in 2 weeks, not immediate! And proper protection only after the 2nd shot.
What kind of stupid decision is this? ‘It’s going really well, so let’s fuck it up again!’
This is ridiculous. We need to be wearing masks even if we keep 1.5 meter distance and are vaccinated. Corona spreads through droplets, so keeping distance isn’t enough! We will continue to spread variants without masks! Learn from the UK! Please don’t make the same
mistake Dutchies!
I would wear it in every closed place like supermarkets, metro, trains, etc for a while yet….
Finally
Stupid
( cloth )masks simply have minimal effect on the microscopic droplets of the virus. It is just a comfort blanket. This was well known pre pandemic, which is why the WHO advised against them, till the fear took over. The only serious study is the Danmask study, which showed no effect. It is just social signalling.