The RIVM has finally created guidelines for single people during the coronavirus crisis, and the touch-starved among us are celebrating.

Previously, dating and having casual sex were understandably discouraged by the RIVM: people had to stay 1.5m from each other, which does make physical contact somewhat difficult. Until yesterday, the information for singles about how to deal with the coronavirus crisis were, well, non existent.

RIVM acknowledges human need for physical contact

The RIVM has now added some guidelines for people who are not in a long-term or serious relationship. Like any good therapist, they acknowledge that we might have feelings about the last couple of months: “It makes sense that as a single you also want to have physical contact,” is how the guidelines open on the RIVM website.

Get a cuddle or sex buddy

After that, the guidelines are actually pretty helpful. The RIVM advises single people to have one person that they cuddle with or have sex with, rather than multiple people, to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. They also advise having an agreement with your “buddy” about how many other people you both see, again to reduce the risk of infection.

Acknowledgement of difficulties may make single people feel better

Timo Harmelink, who runs the podcast Datevermaak, spoke to RTL Nieuws about the importance of these new guidelines. If you’re feeling lonely as a single person, but no one else acknowledges that you might feel that way, you’re more likely to feel like there’s something wrong with you, that your feelings are “wrong” in some way. Now that the RIVM has acknowledged the difficulty of this period for single people, and provided some guidelines, life will likely be a bit easier for single people.

Are you single? How have you been handling this period? Let us know in the comments below. 

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The RIVM has published the latest count of coronavirus cases in the Netherlands.

According to the new numbers, there are now 270 more cases in the Netherlands, reaching a total of 43,481 cases.

When it comes to the severity of the cases, a further 27 patients have ended up in the hospital to receive treatment for the coronavirus.

Lastly and unfortunately, 28 more people have died since the last count, bringing the total of deaths to 5,590.

How Europe plans to reopen borders for tourism this summer

The European Commission is working on a plan for European countries to reopen their borders this summer. The hope is that some tourism will be able to take place. They are doing this by allowing countries to reopen to other countries with a similar risk profile.

Countries must reopen to all countries with a similar risk profile, and cannot work on individual agreements with each other, as France and Great Britain seem to have been doing.

In first days of school, 55,000 children stayed at home

The Netherlands is currently undergoing a transition period in which the coronavirus measures are being eased, such as gradually opening up schools. However, according to a recent poll, in 90% of schools in the Netherlands, children remained home out of concerns over the coronavirus. And in many cases, teachers remained at home as well.

The end of growth and the emphasis on going green: how coronavirus may change the future of Schiphol

In the coming years, growth of the Schiphol airport will be limited, partly due to the coronavirus crisis, but the aim is also to make it more environmentally friendly and to focus on pre-existing issues.  The cabinet will confirm the decision this Friday.

Read more about how coronavirus has affected the airport and how Schiphol plans to go greener here. 

Mark Rutte asks for solidarity for the airline industry

The airline industry has been one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus, given the closure of borders and of general travel. Although Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that refunds would not be possible, the EU Commission says otherwise.

Nonetheless, Rutte asks for solidarity with the airline industry, advising people to sticking to the voucher option instead of refunding. Nevertheless, for obvious reasons refunds should still be permissible.

If your KLM flight is cancelled, you can now get your money back

If you were worried about losing money over cancelled flights, here’s some potential good news for you. KLM customers with flights cancelled in the near future will have the opportunity to get a refund. The airline is responding to European Commission policy as well as customer dissatisfaction.

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If you were worried about losing money over cancelled flights, here’s some potential good news for you. KLM customers with flights cancelled in the near future will have the opportunity to get a refund. 

The airline is responding to European Commission directive, RTL Nieuws reports. The European Commission has previously stated that customers with cancelled flights are allowed to request a refund. Countries that do not allow this as a choice can face infringement procedures.

Vouchers and dissatisfaction

Due to coronavirus and government-imposed measures to limit its spread, many (many) flights have been cancelled around the world.

Airlines compensate for these cancellations by issuing travel vouchers, which means that the money you’ve spent will not be refunded but will instead be available for you use when booking a future flight.

If the voucher has not been used fully in the span of 12 months, then it can be converted to cash.

New policy

Because customers weren’t exactly happy with this policy, KLM will now adjust it, enabling customers to have the choice between cash returns and travel vouchers.

More information is to come.

Solidarity with the airline industry

The airline industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. Schiphol airport’s plans to expand have now been tabled, and perhaps the airport will now focus on making air travel more sustainable.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is consequently asking for solidarity with the airline industry, by sticking to the voucher option instead of refunding. The EU commission, in addition to advising for refunds to be possible, is looking at ways for tourism to still exist this summer, so there still may be a possibility of taking a cheeky holiday.

But nonetheless, for obvious reasons refunds should still be permissible.

What do you think about vouchers instead of refunds? Let us know in the comments.

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In the coming years, growth of the Schiphol airport will be limited, partly due to the coronavirus crisis, but the aim is also to make it more environmentally friendly and to focus on pre-existing issues.  

Originally, the aim was to increase the amount of flights to 540,000 (woah!) in the coming year, but it is likely that the numbers will remain at their current quantities, 500,000.

The cabinet will confirm this decision on Friday, according to NOS. But nonetheless, now is the time to improve existing problems such as noise and sustainability— and this is what the cabinet aims to do.

Less flights

Before coronavirus hit the world, Schiphol airport was approaching half a million flights annually. But coronavirus has meant that people are increasingly reluctant to fly.

With 90% of the aviation industry worldwide currently unemployed, we may not return to regular flying amounts till 2030, NOS states.

Remember airports? Me neither. Here is a map showing the largest airports in Europe by passenger count (2019 data). Source: https://t.co/seUj69h2Ad pic.twitter.com/0BTK37pQkP

— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) May 6, 2020

The cabinet would like to return to 500,000 flights per year over the coming years, and once the corona crisis resolves itself, possibly more (but note that flying is pretty bad for the environment, so if it’s unnecessary for the coming time, why do it?).

Good for KLM

The Netherlands is KLM’s home base, so to speak. So if Schiphol recovers from the coronavirus crisis and begins to grow, and if KLM recovers too, then any excess space made by the airport could be taken up by them instead of foreign airlines.

All about the environment

It is possible for Schiphol to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the environment. This can firstly be done by encouraging people to use air travel only when necessary. For instance, flights don’t actually need to fly between Schiphol and Brussels, to Berlin, or even to London, now that the EuroStar between Amsterdam and London and Rotterdam and London exists.

These are fairly short flights, and utilise the same take-off emissions as flights to Asia and the US. Talk about waste. Instead, the use of trains could be prioritised instead of air travel.

BREAKING: #ClimateAction at Airport Schiphol! Greenpeace activists cycle on airport runway demanding climate conditions for bailout. Check out the livestream: https://t.co/TYvhuwzJAW #AirFranceKLM #BailOutPeopleNotCorporations pic.twitter.com/TWrMZ29RA9

— Greenpeace NL (@GreenpeaceNL) May 14, 2020

Additionally, at one point there were ideas of moving the airport to the North Sea in order to create more space. Given the current situation, that idea’s definitely been tabled.

Likely for the best, since that area is absolutely necessary to create a large wind farm.  The wind farm would enable the transport of electricity to other North Sea neighbours such as the UK, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Norway.

A glimpse into Utopia

The coronavirus has shown us how different the world could be if we pay a little more attention to our everyday energy consumptions. In Delhi, for instance, the air, less heavy with pollution, now replicates air from the 1980’s. Elsewhere similar trends follow.

Coronavirus has shown us a world in which people do not interfere with the environment. And it’s a good one. Here’s hoping that once life returns to what it was pre-corona, our planet continues to flourish the way it has during corona.

Are you planning on flying anytime soon? Let us know in the comments.

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The Netherlands is currently undergoing a transition period in which the coronavirus measures are being eased.

One of the major steps was the opening of primary schools on May 11. However, these past few days, 55,000 children continued to stay at home, reports RTL Nieuws.

Children staying at home in 90% of schools

A poll by the General Association of School Leaders (AVS) confirms this. According to the poll, in 90% of schools in the Netherlands, children remained home out of concerns over the coronavirus. However, this number varied from school to school. For example, in some schools, 10% of students did not come at all. In other schools, only one child stayed at home.

School directors surveyed in the poll confirmed that the children who stayed at home were mostly ones with medical conditions that cause them to be at greater health risk if they come into contact with the coronavirus.

Some teachers stayed at home too

In half of the schools polled, some teachers also stayed at home. Petra van Haren, the chair of AVS, said that “at five percent of the schools, there were not enough teachers to bring all classes to the school”. 

Another interesting aspect is that in 21% of schools, face masks were used, as this was not part of the initial recommendations for opening-up the schools, indicating that concerns over coronavirus in schools are quite high.

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The European Commission is working on a plan for European countries to reopen their borders this summer. The hope is that some tourism will be able to take place, NU.nl reports.

When the coronavirus crisis began, European countries shut their borders to one another in a rather haphazard way, deciding individually when they would do so. The European Commission is hoping that, by coming up with guidelines for the process, they can make the reopening of borders a little more organised.

Countries may open to other countries with a similar risk profile

They are doing this by allowing countries to reopen to other countries with a similar risk profile. Data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is used to decide this. Countries must reopen to all countries with a similar risk profile, and cannot work on individual agreements with each other, as France and Great Britain seem to have been doing.

Greece and Portugal hope to reopen for tourists

For countries like Portugal and Greece, who have not been hit badly by the coronavirus crisis so far, and which rely on tourism for a significant proportion of their GDP, there is a clear incentive to reopen for tourism. For other countries which have been harder hit, a holiday at home is the plan.

Do you expect to be able to go on holiday this year? Let us know your predictions in the comments below.

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The Dutch infection count is continuing to fall, according to the latest figures from RIVM. In the past 24-hours a further 227 people have tested positive to the virus as the Netherlands continues its ascent towards 45,000.

In the same time period, a further 52 people have died. To date, coronavirus is confirmed to have claimed the lives of a total 5,562 people.

Meanwhile, 52 people were admitted to hospital from the virus in the past day.

Here’s what to expect if you go to a restaurant in the Netherlands after June 1

Hotels, restaurants and cafes are set to open up after June 1. But of course, coronavirus is still widespread across the country and there will be conditions attached. Here are a few: entry into a restaurant will only be permitted if you have a reservation. Additionally, before entering you’ll be asked some questions to detect whether you are experiencing coronavirus symptoms.

Consumers with cancelled travel plans must be able to choose a refund, European Commission says

The coronavirus crisis has had a huge impact on the tourism sector in Europe, and across the world. The question the European Commission is dealing with now is whether to support the tourism industry, or the rights of consumers. For obvious reasons, giving customers a voucher for a future trip is much better for tourism industries financially. However, legally, customers must be given a choice between a voucher and a full refund.

Coronavirus has slammed the economy: will consumers pay the price?

A gradual loosening of the coronavirus measures was announced last week. With strict limitations placed on businesses,  the economy is anything but returning to “normal.” Consumers may have to bear the brunt of some of these restrictions once things begin to open up.

Luckily, public transport also shouldn’t be raising their prices (we can only assume it’s because it’s crazy expensive already.) Furthermore, museums or amusement parks are not expected to start charging more for tickets even if they make losses.

Coronavirus crisis has caused an increase in psychological complaints, study shows

There has been an increase in the number of complaints from patients with a serious psychiatric problem during the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands. This is due to several factors. First of all, many patients have not been able to access face to face help from a care provider for several months. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that 38% feel that there is not enough help available to them.

40% of patients are experiencing more psychological complaints than usual, but for some people, the coronavirus crisis has actually been good for their mental health. This is largely down to the removal of some stress factors, such as more rest, less social pressure, and less stress to get work done.

Follow DutchReview on Facebook for the latest news on coronavirus in the Netherlands.

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Since Monday, five surfers have been found dead at at Scheveningen. Their cause of death is still being investigated; however, it is possible that a thick layer of sea foam played a role. 

The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is currently investigating the incidents, RTL Nieuws reports. 

According to NIOZ researcher Katja Philippart, what they want to know is whether excess algae was present in the water near the area, or whether it was excess wind. This is because, if it was the algae that played a role, this can be reported so that dangerous incidents in the future can be prevented.

Excess algae combined with wind

According to RTL Nieuws, the combination of dead algae and heavy winds created a thick, dangerous layer of sea foam.

It is likely this that caused even more dangerous circumstances for surfers.

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