Negative covid test could soon be required to visit museums, zoos, theme parks: Report

The Cabinet is considering making a negative coronavirus test or a Covid-19 vaccination certificate a mandatory requirement to access museums, zoos and amusement parks when they are allowed to reopen, sources told BNR. This would be separate to the trial events currently underway to determine how sectors can safely emerge from the lockdown without causing a spike in new coronavirus infections.

All of them require the attendees to present negative Covid-19 tests upon entering. This can be shown with the new Coronacheck app with which people generate a unique QR code indicating if they have recently been tested negative or if they have been vaccinated.

Sources told BNR that it was under serious consideration to make use the app mandatory as a way to gain entrance when numerous industries start welcoming guests again with regularity. The code would then be scanned at the entrance of museums, zoos or amusement park, making it impossible to enter for everyone who fails to present it. Children younger than 12 would most likely be exempt from this rule.

Representatives of various associations within the culture and entertainment industries expressed their concerns that fewer people would be willing to visit if having a negative coronavirus test became a long-term requirement.

”We are now experimenting with it, but we prefer to receive our guests without a coronavirus test. There are many people who do not like having to take a test before going out. We are convinced that we can receive visitors safely and tests are not necessary”, chair of union Club van Elf Mascha van Till-Taminiau said.

Some attractions would otherwise probably remain closed because people would be less willing to visit them if they needed to get tested before every visit, van Till-Taminiau warned.

Zoos, amusement parks and museums have been closed in the Netherlands since mid-December. According to the most recent government roadmap, these sectors can reopen once regions are downgraded from the ‘very serious’ to ‘serious’ risk category. These locations can be allowed to open sooner than other spaces as they encourage a constant flow of visitors who do not stop and gather in one place for an extended period of time.