Catshuis meeting: Ministers will discuss growing pressure to ease measures

The cabinet met again in the Catshuis, the Prime Minister’s official residency, on Sunday to discuss the coronavirus measures. Last week, I&O Research conducted a study into the public support for the measures. It found that the number of Dutch people who want to ease the lockdown measures to a greater or lesser extent, has doubled in four weeks.

More than one in three Dutch people now think that restrictions should be loosened. Young people aged 18 to 24 are especially hoping for relaxation. Of all age groups, they are most affected by the corona crisis.

The part of the population that wants to maintain or even tighten the lockdown restrictions is still the largest, namely 52 percent. Although the percentage of people calling for tighter restrictions has clearly fallen from 29 percent at the end of January to 9 percent now.

The vast majority of Dutch people are still broadly behind the corona measures, although that support has declined slightly, from three-quarters three weeks ago to more than two-thirds (68 percent) now. The investigation was conducted before Tuesday’s court ruling in relation to the curfew and the subsequent vote by the Senate in support of the measure.

“A lot of people are no longer able to take it, they now want to carefully break out,” concludes researcher Peter Kanne of I& Research from the results. “They are not unwilling, want to abide by the measures, but they also see that the contamination figures are falling.”

Incidentally, the curfew as a recent corona measures is not the biggest issue. 70 percent agree with that the outgoing cabinet’s decision last week to extend the curfew.

Limiting visits to one person is still more difficult. The group that deems this a justified decision (42 percent) is smaller than the 47 percent who don’t agree. 29 percent say they do not fully comply with this measure, compared to five percent who sometimes ignore the curfew.

“Many people find a maximum of one guest impracticable. They miss contact too much and feel more and more lonely. By breaking this rule, they choose the least evil of the two in their eyes,” says Kanne.

Whether the cabinet decides to (partially) ease restrictions will become clear during the press conference on Tuesday.