Concerns for new Covid wave in Noord-Brabant; People becoming careless, experts say

The GGDs and hospitals in Noord-Brabant are worried by the increasing number of coronavirus infections in the province as more and more people ignore the rules in place to curb the spread of the disease. "People's behavior really worry us," Annemieke van der Zijden of health service GGD West Brabant said to newspaper AD.

Source and contact tracing often revealed that people who get tested for Covid-19 don't stay home while they wait for their results. "Our employees regularly have people on the phone walking around the city after a test, or visiting friends, or going to work," Van de Zijden said .

Bart Berden, director of the Elisabeth TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg and chairman of the regional consultation on acute care ROAZ in Noord-Brabant, noticed similar developments. "Many people are loosening. We see people catching up on parties that were planned during the lockdown and companies that are calling their employees back to work at the office. Very worrying."

And while this is happening, the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Noord-Brabant is increasing. In the western parts of the province, the percentage of positive tests rose from 0.5 percent to 2.3 percent in a short time. The number of people who went for a test doubled in a week. "You just see more and more small hot spots. Now that is still manageable, but people must now really seriously adhere to the corona measures," Van der Zijden said.

The number of coronavirus related hospital admissions is still low in the province, but the health authorities expect they will increase in the coming weeks. "That is just going to happen, that is as logical as anything," Berden said. "I'm allowed to be angry about that. We are far from finished catching up on the regular care that could not continue due to corona. We really can't take a second wave."

The number of coronavirus infections also increased in other places in the Netherlands. In the Zuid-Holland town of Hillegom, 23 Covid-19 infections were linked to a local bar. Sjaak de Gouw of GGD Hollands-Midden said that hundreds of other people may have been infected. Multiple people were also infected at a doctor's office in Nieuw Vennep, and at a restaurant in Wanneperveen. Goes saw 59 positive Covid-19 tests since the start of this month, and traced most of the infections back to two parties, NOS reports.

On Monday, Ernst Kuipers of the acute care network in the Netherlands said that so far, the local outbreaks have "not translated into an increase in the overall number of hospital admissions." On Monday, 97 people were treated for Covid-19 in Dutch hospitals, up from 88 on Friday.