Largest cities will not allow cafes to open Saturday; These towns will allow it

The mayors of the four largest cities in the Netherlands said they will not tolerate hospitality and cultural businesses opening this weekend in defiance of coronavirus restrictions. The mayors of dozens of smaller Dutch municipalities said they will turn a blind eye to catering establishments opening on Saturday as a form of peaceful protest against the coronavirus lockdown, some of which are listed at the bottom of this article.

The Netherlands went into a hard lockdown on December 19, partly to give the booster shot campaign a chance to get going in the face of the more contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The lockdown closed all non-essential stores, catering establishments, fitness centers, and contact professions. The current lockdown is set to expire on Friday night, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte and new Health Minister Ernst Kuipers will hold a press conference to explain what the Covid-19 restrictions will look like in the coming period.

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht will all continue to press forward with enforcement of the Cabinet’s policy, whether rules are relaxed or extended. “There is no policy of tolerance,” a spokesperson for Mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam told ANP. By far, the city averages the most coronavirus infections per day out of all Dutch cities, with nearly 2,500 residents testing positive every 24 hours, data from the RIVM shows. “We expect entrepreneurs to adhere to the rules and will keep an eye on that."

“The way we enforce rules will not change,” said a spokesperson for Rotterdam’s mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb. “We’re not going to tolerate it. A similar sentiment was expressed in The Hague, which said they will continue to check locations at random and based on tips, prioritizing the most egregious violations first. The cities of Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Barneveld, Groningen, Nijmegen, and Sliedrecht also plan to issue warnings and fines like any other weekend, if required.

Should entrepreneurs defy coronavirus restrictions in Utrecht on Saturday, they will get a casual warning followed by a formal warning. Following that, the city may go ahead and fine a business, or shut it down. The enforcement teams are permitted to follow these steps in rapid succession as they see fit, said Mayor Sharon Dijksma.

"In the case of obvious and violations committed knowingly, immediate action will be taken,” warned Hubert Bruls, the mayor of Nijmegen. Bruls also serves as the chair of the Security Council, which is made up of mayors from the country’s 25 regional areas. The organization met on Thursday and advocated for adherence to Cabinet policy, instead of turning ignoring violators.

The main points of the Cabinet's lockdown changes leaked out early, starting on Thursday. The Cabinet is expected to relax the coronavirus rules by allowing higher education students to return to class, and the limited reopening of non-essential retail stores, close-contact service professions, and fitness centers from Saturday. Rules about sports participation may also be modified. The catering- and cultural sectors will likely remain closed. Retailers were rumored to have to open by appointment only, but that seems to no longer be the case.

About 210,000 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus during the past seven days, but new hospitalizations for Covid-19 continued on a months-long decline. It remains uncertain how pathogenic the Omicron variant is, Outbreak Management Team virologist Menno de Jong said he was surprised by how many new patients were infected by earlier variants of the virus. "It is striking that a significantly higher proportion of Delta patients are actually admitted into regular care wards," he said this week in regards to his work at the Amsterdam University Medical Center.

Some municipalities permitting bars, restaurants, and cafes to open on Saturday

Flevoland

• Almere*
• Dronten*
• Lelystad*
• Noordoostpolder*
• Urk*
• Zeewolde*

* The mayors of the six cities in Flevoland jointly said they empathized with the hospitality and cultural sector, and would “appropriately” deal with businesses which defy lockdown restrictions in protest on Saturday.

Friesland

• Drachten

Gelderland

• Oude IJsselstreek
• Montferland
• Aalten
• Nunspeet
• Elburg
• West Betuwe
• Bronkhorst
• Ede
• Zutphen

Groningen

• Groningen*
• Appingedam
• Hoogezand
• Oldambt
• Ter Apel
• Uithuizen
• Veendam
• Westerwolde
• Winsum

* The City of Groningen may allow limited reopening on Saturday, but will enforce rules where the situation gets out of hand.

• Limburg

• Valkenburg
• Sittard-Geleen
• Beek
• Beekdaelen
• Brunssum
• Eijsden-Margraten
• Gulpen-Wittem
• Heerlen
• Kerkrade
• Landgraaf
• Maastricht
• Meerssen
• Simpleveld
• Stein
• Vaals
• Voerendaal

Noord-Brabant

• Land van Cuijk

Noord-Holland

• Haarlem
• Haarlemmermeer
• Hoorn
• Velsen

Zeeland

• Borsele
• Goes
• Hulst
• Kapelle
• Middelburg
• Noord-Beveland
• Reimerswaal
• Schouwen-Duiveland
• Sluis
• Terneuzen
• Tholen
• Veere
• Vlissingen

Zuid-Holland

• Alblasserdam
• Westland