Thread by @DutchNewsNL

There's going to be (yet another) corona press conference on Friday evening. Our anonymous live-tweeter is charging double their usual rate (four bottles of gin, rather than two). dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/a…

Ok hear us out what if instead of watching the press conference we all just go to a park and sit in the sun? (Socially distant of course)

Soooooo it seems the boss has told us to get back from the park, get the gin sorted into whatever form is needed and prepare those typing fingers.

If you want to follow along, you can watch the press conference on the NOS. nos.nl/artikel/234890…

We're ready.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte says thanks for being here in this unusual moment, on a Friday evening. [You're not welcome.]

Coronavirus is on a come back, he says.

He says that the regional and local approach is an important part of the strategy. (Read: we're getting regional measures which everyone always knows because the government leaks like swiss cheese. ) dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/a…

Extra measures are a difficult message, he says. He says that it's becoming harder for people to keep to the rules. Harder to remember to wash their hands and stay home with symptoms. People want to visit their families. (Clearly Rutte has not met my family.)

He says 10% of infections can be traced to work situations and it's extra difficult to hold to the rules when you live in a student house.

"What brought us this far is our behavior, not the testing or the contact tracing," Rutte says. (Possibly because there isn't enough of either?!?!?)

He says he knows it's hard to see the seriousness because there are fewer people in the hospitals. He says that we know more about treatment and that younger people get less seriously ill.

But, we've seen hospital admissions rise. The first patients have been moved to other hospitals. With more patients, the stress on the healthcare system rises.

Yesterday, he says, there were 1,750 infections. (And today nearly 2,000) dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/n…

He says we cannot ask health care to handle a huge rise again, we cannot have so many daily deaths. If we don't stop this, it will have huge impacts on horeca and shops as well.

He says the problems are in the cities and in the student cities. After the press conference, mayors will be announcing new measures and we will hear more about those from Hugo "Shoe Model" de Jonge in a minute.

IRMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, this dress is great. Will Irma be our personal shopper?

Health Minister Huge de Jonge says "Is this a second wave? Yes." (BUDDY WHEN DID THE FIRST WAVE END EXACTLY?)

De Jonge when he stares in the mirror, styling his hair:

He says there are three levels: 1 - it's all fine, 2 - cause for concern, 3 - we're fucked.

Some places are already at level two.

And more may also soon be level two.

In these level two places, no one can enter a bar after midnight, they must shut by 1AM. Events, including weddings, cannot be larger than 50 people. (Who in their right mind is having a wedding of more than 50 people anyway these days?)

There will be an exception to that for: demonstrations, schools, funerals and religious meetings. (You hear that corona?!?!)

Testing capacity is tight, de Jonge says. (No, tight is pants after Christmas dinner. Testing is a mess.)

De Jonge says that you have to stay home with complaints and not to get made at public health officials. (Yes, it's their fault we have a pandemic, don't be an asshole unless it's on Twitter and you're making fun of politicians' haircuts.)

Is this enough? Rutte says yes they think so. (What do you think he's gonna say? "Oh no it's just occurred to me that this isn't enough?!?!)

He says horeca has done very well but that they have seen a tripling of infections in horeca which leads me to believe the first part of that might not be true.

Follow up question: Are these measures mostly symbolic? (Not for us considering we gotta leave the bar an hour earlier tonight.)

Rutte says no, that later in the evening the 1.5 meter distance is respected less. (Is it the time or the gin?)

Next question: From Monday there will be a preference for some groups to get tested. Does this mean other people have to wait? (By definition, yes) De Jonge says the wait time is just too long and for some groups it matters more if they need to stay home.

More info on priority testing: dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/p…

De Jonge says that he wants everyone to get tested, because there's that's not possible, there have to be decisions made over who gets tested. (Or...maybe some decisions to have most testing?)

Question: Are we losing our grip on the virus? Rutte says no (but corona says yes.)

Follow up: Why wait 48 hours for measures? Rutte says that there need to be clear agreements (but we all know the real reason is that Dutch people cannot be spontaneous. Honestly, we should be happy that they could find a spot in their agenda this soon.)

There's confusion over time so now we're having a discussion about how that works.

Question: Local measures contain half the country? (From your mouth to gods ears there, Telegraaf.)

"We wanted to scale this on Tuesday but the virus didn't give us time."

Do you have faith people will keep to the measures this time? A lot of people have been keeping to the measures. (Except at the students, people at work, families...)

Rutte says that partly this is because the hospital admissions are still down but that they are rising, so we need to get that in check.

A question about the dashboard: Are we going to get a weekly update or will it just be on the dashboard? De Jonge says that will be different per week (So these surprise press conferences will continue, we need more gin.)

According to the RIVM, the transmissions are mostly happening at home, why no change to the rules there? Rutte says this is in the context of other measures, they are looking into home situations.

Why is there an exception for religious events? Rutte says it's because the churches and the mosques are being responsible.

You give compliments to the students, but yesterday, we saw parties in the park? (I can hear a student party right now actually...) Rutte says that a lot can go wrong but the government has spoken to the student groups and they are aware of the risks.

Are the students listening? (Clearly not.) Rutte says that it is true that student leaders are taking it seriously but that too often it doesn't go well.

There is a question about the approach in Belgium and Germany. Rutte says that every country has its own system and if you want to travel you need to check the forgein ministry website.

A question to de Jonge about whether people will just travel to another region? (It's half the country at this point. Where are people gonna go? Flevoland?) De Jonge says we cannot stop that.

What about football stadiums? You can't go with more than 50 people, gotta keep the distance, etc. (It's also going badly there, shocker. dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/k…)

Shout out to @NUnl who asked: I am trying to figure out what phase we are in. (WE ARE TOO FRIENDS) De Jonge: We started in the outbreak phase, then there is a bridging phase, now we are in the controlling phase (mmmmm are we tho).

Based on cases we are in a second wave. (Is that another name for the controlling phase or...)

What's next scenario? Another lockdown? How close are we? De Jonge has returned to his strategy of boring us to death by talking a lot. He says the question implies that there would be country wide measures but they are trying to stay away from that.

He says he can't and won't speculate at this point.

Will the 1.5 meters be more strongly enforced? "Our goal is to do this as adults, together." (My goal is stop drinking so how are all these goals working out?)

Earlier the enforcement was more strict and the behavior was better. Are those things related? (Earlier the ministry of justice hadn't gotten a criminal record for breaking the rules on camera at his own goddamn wedding also.)

Rutte says he doesn't think so.

Should the policy change if people don't support it? "The reality is that the virus is among us and by keeping to the measures we can beat the virus." (In other words, politicians gonna politician.)

How much of the transmissions are occurring in horeca? Rutte says that there has been an increase, he says 6% He says that what they see is that if someone is in a bar and infected, they infect more people than in other situations.

Is there a risk that people start drinking earlier? (We sure as hell did) Rutte says we're all adults, etc etc. Copy and paste from above.

You've talked about behavior for weeks and cases are still increasing? (NRC is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 tonight.) "I don't agree," Rutte says.

(I mean the RIVM numbers disagree strongly.)

To De Jonge: Before the summer, there was a roadmap, is there a reverse roadmap? He says a lot about regional measures. (Maybe there's a regional roadmap?)

A QUESTION ABOUT MASKS: Has the cabinet always spoken the truth about masks? Rutte says they followed the advice of the OMT and the RIVM. The advice (to not wear masks earlier) was because of a mask shortage.

Have you informed parliment badly? De Jonge says that he understands that people are worried. The advice (about masks) is based on the infection risk.

Here's a gif of a cute red panda just because we stopped listening to de Jonge because he talks to much and doesn't say anything.

De Jonge says that it isn't his role to decide if masks should be worn. (Reminder: His job title is health minister.) He says that's for the RIVM. And they have concluded that masks aren't necessary.

There's a lot of debate about what is advice (what you should do) and what is required.

Ok we're done.

Please give us money, we've earned it. dutchnews.nl/donate-to-dutc…

Our story will be out shortly.

Ok one last thing, couldn't find a way to work in a joke to about VVD leader Klaas Dijkhof wearing trainers to the debate on Wednesday and Thursday so just gonna link to the Insta and call it a night. instagram.com/p/CFOvRIwpoQf/

Here ya go: dutchnews.nl/news/2020/09/t…