Table 2.
The unfolding of the COVID-19 crisis in the Netherlands. Source: Information from https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronacrisis_in_Nederland.
| Date in 2020 | Major events |
|---|---|
| January 24 | National Outbreak Management Team (OMT) assembled, bringing together infectious disease experts under leadership of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), which is linked to the Ministry of Health, Wellfare and Sport. The OMT is tasked to advise government about the virus and measures to control it |
| February 27 | First COVID-19 case confirmed in the Netherlands |
| March 6 | First COVID-19 death confirmed in the Netherlands |
| March 6 | Extraordinary measures put in place for the Province of North Brabant, where the virus is rapidly spreading. Residents called on to refrain from handshaking and to stay home if they feel sick |
| March 9 | Measures scaled up to national level. Government says everyone in the country must refrain from handshaking |
| March 15 | Schools, bars and restaurants ordered closed. Everyone is called on to work from home as much as possible. The only exception is those in “vital professions,” such as health care workers. The main message to the public: “Stay home!” |
| March 16 | Concerns mount about the country’s intensive care capacity. At a press conference, the government alludes to pursuit of “group immunity” as a strategy. The idea is that, as the spread of the virus cannot be stopped, transmission should be slowed as much as possible. This will ensure that health care capacity is not overwhelmed, as the number of people with immunity to the virus slowly grows in the long run |
| March 20 | Due to capacity shortages, COVID-19 testing is available mainly for hospitalized patients only |
| March 23 | All events are banned and local government is given discretionary authority to order shops to close and to disband groups and parties |
| April 5 | Intensive care capacity doubled |
| April 6 | Testing capacity expanded |
| April 7 | The Minister calls on the private sector to develop a corona track-and-trace app for public use |
| April 14 | In light of the continued scarcity of COVID-19 tests, general practitioners start tracking probable COVID-19 cases among their patients |
| April 17 | The Dutch Data Protection Authority criticizes the candidate track-and-trace apps. A proposal to require the public to use such an app is rejected because of privacy issues |
| April 21 | Number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients exceeds 10,000 with more than 4000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the Netherlands |
| May 21 | The Minister announces development of a “dashboard” to track data on COVID-19 |
| June 4 | Dashboard launched |