Hey everyone!
Mark Rutte just held his weekly press conference and mentioned some slightly concerning things.
It seems the infection rate of cases is increasing again. That doesn’t help for the prospects for Christmas, to say the least. Once more, please minimize social contacts, keep 1,5m distance, wash your hands, wear your facemasks. You know the drill.
Over the past two weeks there’s been quite a steep decrease, but that has now pretty much come to a standstill. Please behave responsibly, we all want to celebrate Christmas.
On Christmas: the Outbreak Management Team has put out a recommendation to celebrate Christmas and New Years with no more than 6 guests per day, all living in the same saftety region. Additionally, they once again stress to be careful to stick to the general guidelines (as above). Note this is not (yet) an official governmental guideline!
In general, let’s together make sure we don’t gift ourselves a third wave of Covid this December.
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Now here’s some fresh positive news on vaccines:
In the first three months of 2021, there will be approximately 3,5 million vaccines available. The first vaccines available will go to long-term care institutions (elderly homes, living facilities for disabled, etc). That does most likely include the people who live there, not necessarily the staff of the facilities. For specific locations, it might just be the staff that gets vaccinated because of the specific situation at that facility.
Next up will be age group that’s at the biggest risk of the virus: 60+. The eldest are up first, working down to 60y/o’s. Next group will be 60- people with a health risk and healthcare employees that are at significant covid risks. Expectation is that this plan has little to vaccines left for general use then, those would have to wait for the next batch (unclear what/when/why those would become available. I’ll let you know if I know more!)
Now, this is a loose translation of the formal roadmap for vaccination as can be found here (in Dutch only at this point) https://www.gezondheidsraad.nl/documenten/adviezen/2020/11/19/strategieen-voor-covid-19-vaccinatie.
Main takeaway about what has just been published about the vaccinations: they’ll be voluntary and free, and available from GP’s, company doctors and GGD. But it’s gonna take a while still, but by that time there’ll be both a large governmental infomercial campaign and I’ll be here to help!
As always, if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask!