Panel 4.

Representative interview quotes.

Borders in the prepandemic life of the German-Dutch-Belgium borderland
Extensive cross-border connections	Daily life does not take the border into account. It's un bassin de vie, so we go to school, we work on the other side of the border. The attending physician is sometimes on the other side of the border, the mechanic. You have horses on the other side of the border. It is un bassin de vie. [B3]
Borders have little meaning in everyday life	We're in the centre of Europe. And a border is in fact a very artificial concept. People may have interests in two countries at the same time. They have work in one country, have relatives in another and go shopping in a third country. [N3]
Benefits of living near the border	If you see that in the leisure area, then I think it is a big deal that the border is perceived as positive for people who also drive over to Enschede from the German side on the weekend or then to Winterswijk, just because of the culture. [G1]
Administrative borders remain	What you do notice about the border, is the difficulty for a Dutchman to work in Belgium. Just as we have a DigiD in the Netherlands, you need an eID in Belgium … I've been working [in Belgium] for a few years now and there are still a lot of programmes I can't open, because I don't have that card. [B2]
COVID-19 cross-border mobility and consequences of border control measures
Lack of cross-border public health data	You mean: has the fact of having border crossings, has it had an impact on the numbers of the epidemic? I don't have any hard data to measure that. So I don't know how to answer, I can't say yes or no because I don't have the data. My feeling is no. [B3]
Cross-border mobility as pandemic driver	At the moment, there is still a higher incidence in the Netherlands, which was later addressed by more contact restrictions. Yes, I am sure we got some infections from the Netherlands. [G6]
Scepticism about cross-border mobility as pandemic driver	I do not think that crossing the border is the main cause of transmission. After all, the situation for residents living on the Dutch and German side of the border respectively is the same as residents living in two Dutch neighbouring villages. I do not think that the border has much to do with it. [N1]
	Yes, a political national border was once drawn, but traffic, say, within a country, contributes to spreading as much as border traffic. [B1]
	We had a handful of cross-border cases with Belgium that were actually of no relevance to our statistics. We rather see that infections are imported from the Cologne-Bonn metropolitan area. [G5]
Border closures are only good on paper	Countering an infection, a pandemic by closing the border is totally ridiculous, it cannot work. In our crisis team, I said it was like trying to prevent basements from being flooded during a storm tide by means of a decree. The best I can do is with sandbags, but I can't do that with a bylaw. [G5]
	It is natural that after the decision to close the borders one is immediately confronted with the fact that for many citizens it became impossible to lead a normal life, even if they respected the measures. So a whole series of legal exceptions were quickly created. [B3]
Local IDC measures are better	I don't think [a border closure] would have influenced that, but rather the measures that were taken on site. Because it is about reducing the number of infections in the place of residence and then it does not spread further as a cluster. [G6]
Effective only if early	So closing borders, let's say closing borders in May or in April wouldn't have made any sense at all. Restricting mobility in the early stages of the pandemic, for example in February, that would have made sense and would have added much effect on the further development of the crisis, I think. But you need to be fast. It is too late when you close borders when people have been on vacation and return to the Netherlands. [N2]
	I think closing a border in itself is not going to stop the virus. It can at the most, in my opinion, delay a virus or a transmission or another infectious disease. But ultimately, a pathogen crosses borders. [N3]
Effective only if rigorous	There are too many exceptions. If you look at the legislation, there were always exceptions who was allowed after all [to cross the border] and who wasn't. And then that's not an effective tool. It's simply- we're too mobile for that. [G10]
Everyday life disruptions	I think [the Belgian border closure] was very unhelpful, to be honest. Not going on a holiday is something very different than not seeing your grandchild who's been born, for grandparents for example … And I think they didn't think it through, that there are so many people who actually work across the border or have things going on across the border, which are important and are not stopped because of the COVID-19 pandemic. [N10]
Barriers for cross-border healthcare provision	And if I stop these necessary visits, that is, visits to the doctor, and also prevent the cross-border exercise of the profession, then I create more damage. There are also many Germans who work in the Belgian hospital, for example. All these things, you have to ask yourself, once I close all of this, what happens then? [G3]
	It was no problem to transport patients by ambulance from Belgium to Germany. It was more difficult in the opposite direction. When the German ambulance was not allowed to cross the border … we sent ambulances to Germany to pick up the patients. (B6)
Socio-economic dependencies	As border areas, we can only benefit if we work closely together. Otherwise we are somehow like ‘beaten at the wooden fence’ [German expression], I'll say it a bit exaggerated. And that is always unstable enough. In the labour market in particular … That's why you should be a little careful when you have such a border closure. [G1]
Incommensurable with European values	[T]his border closure was consciously perceived here, but more as a blow in our guts with regard to the European idea than as an effective measure to contain infections. [G5]
Nationalistic message	I think it's a shame that, in the end, a nation-state way of thinking was dug up again … I just think there are people everywhere who say we have to start the nation state again and the EU is not that great. [G11]
National identities	[When] I arrived at the [Belgian] border control … I had to show papers. And the way cops look at you because you have a yellow license plate, that's very negative, kind of like- How do I say that? Not at all welcoming really …. It was not immediately accepted when I just showed that I work in [Belgium], I have a paper from the Order of the doctors of Belgium. I have always taken my contract with me to be on the safe side. [B2]
The crucial role of cross-border collaboration
Previous cross-border collaborations	So what is good, what also helps us, is a good connection to the Netherlands, in the border regions here, which has been developed for decades. You know each other through various encounters … Of course, this helps as a starting point if such a pandemic actually breaks out that you know each other. [G2]
	Yes, [cross-border communication] was actually a very big problem in the beginning because we didn't even have any phone numbers for them and didn't even know that they are called GGD [Dutch public health service]. And now it is like this, there is this [name] project … [so] that the border regions get to know each other, that is, at the level of the health authorities. And that way we have phone numbers for the first time. [G9]
Challenges of cross-border work	We cannot exchange data across borders. I have lists of names of people who have been in contact with someone who turned out to be infected, Aachen has lists of names, Heinsberg has lists of names, but we cannot share them. That is not allowed by law. The only official information that can be shared is that an infection has been confirmed. [N5]
	The system for controlling infectious diseases works quite differently. The Dutch do it quite differently from us in Germany, also on the basis of different legal rules. They work in completely different systems, you cannot say otherwise. [G2]
Existing cross-border collaborations are necessary	I think you need to have established collaborations or collaborative networks based on prior working relationships. I think we haven't gone far enough … that would make things so much easier and so much lower threshold than is the case now. I think we are in a privileged position by having these working relationships, but they could be more intense and could be taken a step further even. [N2]
	In general, I think that on many issues, we should often work more closely together as local authorities with our Dutch colleagues. If there are more ties, then it is indeed easier to make contact with issues that suddenly arise. [B1]
Importance of working together in border regions	We're living in 2021 and still, it's basically, you just have two separate countries while you can share so much knowledge … Instead of working against each other, Belgium should say, look, we close the borders, we don't want Dutch people in Belgium, make sure there is communication with Dutch people. [B2]
	I think it is important for us, when the war is over, in peacetime, to learn about the working methods of colleagues across the border. How did you deal with this pandemic? What is the role of the public health service, what role do general practitioners have? Are there protocols you work with? [G5]