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The old normal beckons: from February 25, the cabinet wants to completely let go of the 1.5 meters. The catering industry, culture and all other places where the corona ticket applies, will also be given much more space. More people are welcome there, without a distance rule.
The closing time goes to one o’clock in the morning.
Next Friday the major relaxation will start: catering, culture and events can then open until 01:00. Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health, D66) unfolded his plans tonight in a letter to the House of Representatives. “We see a high number of infections, but fortunately fewer people who need relatively care,” said the minister in an explanation tonight.
The intentions in a row: the advice to work from home can be thrown overboard, closing times in the catering industry and culture can be extended to 1 a.m. The 1.5 meter obligation and fixed seat can be removed in places where the corona pass applies (as long as it concerns locations up to 500 visitors).
For places with more than 500 guests, the permanent seat remains required, such as football stadiums. However, the 1.5 meters will also be canceled there. The cabinet also has a plan for nightlife: it can open again with 1G, just like festivals and major events. Everyone must then do access tests.
Although the protest against the corona pass is increasing, Kuipers thinks that this measure remains necessary: ”The consideration is now: do you want to let many people go to the theater, the cinema or the restaurant without a 1.5 meter distance, permanent seat or mouth cap? Then you still need the damping measure of a corona ticket. If you want to delete the corona pass, you have to work with mouth caps, distance standard or seat again. We hear back from entrepreneurs: then choose the corona pass. But as soon as we can get rid of it, please.”
Kuipers further writes that the cabinet wants to get rid of the 1.5 meter distance rule on 25 February. “For this reason, I have also asked the OMT whether it expects there is epidemiological scope to let go of the closing time and the safe distance standard of 1.5 meters, generic from Friday 25 February 2022.”
The cabinet will approach the next corona press conference differently. The OMT still has to meet tomorrow, but the House of Representatives is already involved in the plans to make the extensions legally and procedurally possible. If the experts or mayors pull the emergency brake later, the agenda may still change. But the contours are clear.
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Kuipers does write that he believes that relaxation can be done. “This is possible because we have built up a high degree of immunity through vaccination and by going through the infection in a natural way. The high vaccination rate is reflected in the limited increase in hospital admissions. The omikron variant also makes people less sick.
Still, the hand remains somewhat on the brake. “At the same time, the cabinet considers the risks to be so great that not all measures can be relaxed at the same time. The cabinet will therefore continue to monitor the situation closely. Also because it remains uncertain whether a new virus variant will emerge and what characteristics it will have, and because the number of infections is still high at the moment.”
2G
Kuipers also had to deal with a setback. The possibility to apply 2G – only welcoming vaccinated and cured persons – will be lost. A majority of the House of Representatives opposed this in a vote today.
