Winter weather causes skating frenzy in The Netherlands

Skating clubs will be busy this weekend. As the winter conditions have created favorable skating conditions, many enthusiasts are expected to go for a round on Saturday or Sunday. 

Many safety regions and municipalities have issued warnings for people who want to go skating. A short warning in rhyme appears to be especially popular. The municipality of Molenlanded tweeted: “Be wise, go well prepared on the ice,” and the security region Brabant-Noord added a carnival warning: “Celebrate carnival small, at home and online”.

The parking spaces in Kinderdijk were already full at 7.30 a.m. on Saturday, reports local news broadcaster Rijnmond. According to the source, the municipality will deploy 40 traffic controllers as a preventive measure. Fences have already been put in place to close certain areas off. “The core message is: everyone can help by cycling,” state the local authorities. “Keep your distance, enjoy the weather, but skate close to home and not with too many people. The covid rules still apply.” 

Hospitals have also accounted for extra patients. Additional on-call workers were scheduled for emergency services. On Friday, doctors already saw an increase in patients of about 50 percent. This mainly involves people with fractured wrists. The increase in patients is not manageable, as there are fewer coronavirus patients in the hospitals, says David Baden of the Dutch Association of Emergency Medicine Doctors.  “Due to the strict measures, the real peak in the hospitals is under control. That is why we can now handle this,” he added.