Dutch compliance with coronavirus measures seems to be declining, says van Dissel

Jaap van Dissel, the head of the Dutch health institute RIVM, wonders whether people are sufficiently complying with the corona measures. He told the national broadcaster NOS that “We have a lot of measures, but the question is: how well are they being complied with? According to research by the behavioral unit of the RIVM, this is declining. ”

He added that “about half of the respondents say they stay at home if they have symptoms, and 46 percent say they would get tested for symptoms. Those are disturbing numbers. Apparently, fewer people with covid-like complaints have gotten themselves tested. ”

Van Dissel points out that more people have come to the test sites in the past two weeks, while at the same time, the percentage of positive tests has decreased. “But that remains about 9 percent. The larger number of tests may be related to the start of the hay fever season. Hay fever causes upper respiratory complaints. More people are also being tested as part of the source and contact investigation. That makes it very difficult at the moment to indicate the relationship between the number of infections, hospital admissions, and IC admissions. ”

According to Van Dissel, it is too early to see the effect of vaccinations, but, he says that “data from Israel and the United Kingdom gives a lot of confidence that vaccines offer a way out. After that, the virus is very likely to keep circulating, perhaps in seasons like influenza. By analogy, we can then vaccinate vulnerable groups against the most circulating virus strains. ”