Lockdown in the Netherlands: How Does It Look Like?

Intelligent Lockdown in Maastricht, the Netherlands (Source: TODAYOnline, March 24, 2020) Good day, everyone! I hope you guys are all fine and safe while still being in the quarantine. Remember the Instagram Live Elisa did with her friend, Stephen, last Monday, talking about the lockdown in the Netherlands? For those who missed it, no worries: this writing is for you! And this is my coverage of last Monday’s live. Stephen now works in engineering architecture in one of the most important tech companies (Applied Semi-Conductor Materials and Lithography/ASML), which produces the chips for the computer graphics we used today (Intel/NVIDIA GeForce), which is located in Eindhoven (a city in North Brabant province, the Netherlands). He’s been in the Netherlands for 11 years, and he shared several things regarding the lockdown there. How Did Most Europeans Respond to Coronavirus? Europe is the epicentre of the pandemic in the last, at least, 3 weeks. It all started in France, Germany, where one-by-one positive cases (of Covid-19 ) are confirmed–before in all of a sudden the number of cases dramatically increased in the northern Italy, where most people from Europe (including the Netherlands) spent their paid leave by skiing, then having parties in a packed pub. When Covid-19 first spread in China, most Europeans sort of underestimated the spreading of the virus: they act as they know everything only from reading 1-2 articles–similar to most Indonesians, believe it or not. The Dutch government did not test everybody in their rapid test: they only test the most critical ones while the young ones are not tested. The province he lives (North Brabant), unfortunately, is the most affected province in the Netherlands. Statistically, the Netherlands and Germany have more than 10,000 positive cases, while Germany has lower case fatality rate (CFR) compared to the Netherlands. Stephen explained why we shouldn’t buy the statistics right away, in two factors: First, is the reported infected number really an accurate number? In fact, Germany did more testing than the Netherlands, which explains the higher number of infected people in Germany than in the Netherlands, which consequently results in a lower CFR. Back in Indonesia, the real number of infected people is probably larger than the reported number as a lot of people have not been tested either. Secondly, the Netherlands tried to achieve the controversial herd immunity , but Stephen emphasised it has not been proven scientifically to fight Covid-19 effectively, and even the WHO advised countries against this cruel option. Like other viruses, coronavirus keeps mutating from time to time. Every time we are cured from a certain virus, we’ll be immune, i.e. our antibody will work faster to counter the virus if we ever encounter them again. Loads of scientists have proven that Covid-19 has mutated several times, hence herd immunity might not be working. No wonder people are sceptical about it. Intelligent Lockdown Dutch government has imposed intelligent lockdown , a stricter version of physical distancing, since the 2nd week of March (and possibly continues till June). This type of lockdown still allows people to go outside and kids can still play, with no more than 3 people altogether. People can still go to the supermarket without having to file permission to the authorities but mass gatherings like weddings (most of them are postponed), and funerals (usually only attended by close families) are strictly prohibited. This still sounds better than the full lockdown imposed in Wuhan and Italy, where you need to fill out a form and submit to the authorities specifying which supermarket you are going, or else we have to pay a fine. Thankfully, most Dutch people comply these rules because of the heavy fines of around IDR 6 million rupiah although some have been criticizing the effectiveness of this intelligent lockdown with the herd immunity in mind. Meanwhile, at the time of this writing, some cities in Indoneisa have decided to impose local or regional lockdown (such as but not limited to Solo and Tegal with their total local lockdown, and Jakarta’s is coming soon . When Elisa, the live story host, asked the availability of Personal protective equipment (PPE) or APD (Alat Pelindung Diri) in Indonesian is, Stephen said they’re not scarce , but he admits that at least Indonesia handles it better by covering all parts of their body (from head to toe), comparing to Europeans who still take it very lightly (by only wearing goggles and suits, with heads and necks are still exposed). He thinks, at the very least, the Europeans have more accurate tests with high-tech equipment, than those in Indonesia. Quarantine Tips Staying at home must be quite boring for extroverts, because instead of going outside to do our activities, we have to stay at home for an undetermined amount of time. Even for introverts like Stephen, who stayed at home for at least the last 2 weeks and actually prefers that in normal days, feels the need to go out and meet his friends at times, particularly in such good spring weather. Lucky for us, Stephen has several tips to stay active during quarantine days: Stay active! Go outside every time you can, but still maintain physical distancing, such as but not limited to exercising, sunbathing, etc. Being at home more often means we eat and snack more, and therefore we need to find a way to burn calories. Indeed, Stephen cycles and jogs in the park while maintaining physical distance, which is nice! So, for us Indonesians, don’t waste the opportunity to sunbathe below the scorching Indonesian sun! Start doing our chores ! There are several chores that we don’t do often when we’re not at home often, for example cleaning the house and doing laundry. Stay social! Physical distancing does not mean that we can’t socially interact with our friends and family. We need to thank the existence of social media, as we can still interact with our friends, even from afar. For instance, most Dutch now do virtual drinks… and yes, it’s online! See how helpful the technology is to connect us together. Aside of those 3 key tips, another thing that we’ve been discussing is supporting local businesses, which is severely hit by Covid-19 that drives everybody paranoid. Thankfully, the Dutch government has been supportive towards the freelancers and informal workers as to giving certain amounts of subsidies. After all, stay active, stay healthy, stay safe, and still: stay at home! Trust us, this too shall pass, we are all in this together! VOCABULARY TO LEARN: EPICENTRE: Also known as episenter , episentrum , or even pusat (pandemi) in Indonesian for this context, epicentre pertains to where the pandemic mostly resides. PAID LEAVE: Also known as cuti , this pertains to the time when you’re allowed to take a break from work, but your salary is still paid as it is. Usually, offices or even countries have their policies of the maximum number of days they can take paid leave. Most companies in the Netherlands give an average of 25 day-paid leave while in Stephen’s office, it’s 40 days! ACT AS THEY KNEW EVERYTHING: Also known as sok tahu or sotoy ( slang ) in Indonesian, this pertains to someone who thinks he knows everything regarding Covid-19 (suddenly an expert), while in fact, this person is not, because they’re not the real expert (in Indo: bukan ahlinya). In other words, you can also say know it all or highly educated (in a sarcastic way). HERD IMMUNITY: Also known as kekebalan kelompok in Indonesian, in this context, herd immunity refers to a condition where the government allows the majority of their population to be infected with the virus in order for them to form the antibody faster . As an example, let’s assume that a country has a population of 100 million, so in order for a country to benefit fully from this, 60 million people has to be infected first before the rest of the people finally are immune, resulting in a better po