Coronavirus: ‘The housing market will cool down due to the corona...

Willem-Alexander visits HMC Westeinde

King Willem-Alexander paid a working visit to Haaglanden Medical Center (HMC) Westeinde in The Hague on Thursday morning. The visit focused on the current treatment of COVID-19 patients in the departments of Pulmonary Medicine, Internal Medicine and Radiology and the working method of the COVID-19 crisis structure.

The GGD’s corona system could not cope with many contact researchers

Too many source and contact researchers simultaneously using the same program for their work. This caused a malfunction in the computer systems of the regional health services on Wednesday, the umbrella organization GGD GHOR Nederland said on Thursday. Due to the breakdown, the daily figures from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) came out hours later than usual on Wednesday. According to the GGD, this is a different type of malfunction than that of Saturday.

‘In the first half of 2021, the number of housing transactions will fall due to the corona crisis’

The rebound in home sales is likely to be short-lived. That’s what ING economists say. Both in the four major cities and in the rest of the country, the number of housing transactions will fall in the first half of next year due to the corona crisis. They believe that this will also have an effect on the prices of homes.

Keijzer: there will be a ‘voucher bank’ for travel organizations

There will be a voucher bank where travel organizations can borrow money so that they can reimburse customers with canceled trips with vouchers. This is what State Secretary Mona Keijzer says in the TV program Goedemorgen Nederland. The cabinet previously reported that this was investigated.

No advantages for companies working on rapid test locations

Companies that participate in the roll-out of the rapid test locations for corona tests will not benefit from this. According to a spokesperson from the employers’ organization VNO-NCW, it is not the case that the personnel of those companies will soon be given priority in corona tests.

Call for emergency fund for sports clubs in The Hague

An emergency fund must be set up for the more than 270 sports clubs in The Hague. The Advisory Council for Sports advocates this. This Thursday, The Hague will discuss the municipal budget for 2021, including the sports budget. If it is up to the Advisory Council, this emergency fund will be included in that sports budget.

“We notice that many sports clubs are having a very difficult time in this corona time,” explained chairman John van den Berg of the Advisory Council on Thursday morning in West Wordt Wakker on Radio West. ‘The government does offer the prospect of money, but that does not mean that those associations will have this money right away. To bridge that time, it would be good if an aid fund were created for those associations. ‘

Van den Berg points out that in May, thirty percent of Dutch sports clubs indicated that they would hardly be able to meet their financial obligations if things continue like this. ‘That was a forecast for the period up to and including June. In the meantime, the corona misery for the sports clubs continues, it is only getting worse. ‘

Corona crisis leads to 17.5 percent more unemployment benefits

The corona crisis has a significant impact on regional employment. According to the UWV, despite the damping effect of support measures, the number of unemployment benefits in the Haaglanden region increased by 29.1 percent during the first months of the crisis – from February to May. The eventual increase up to and including August is 17.5 percent. The UWV expects the number of unemployment benefits to rise further in 2021. At the same time, the number of vacancies will be considerably lower than before the corona crisis. The average number of open online vacancies per week fell 27.5 percent in Central Holland compared to the period until mid-March.

Film Festival Leiden continues despite corona

The fifteenth edition of the Leiden International Film Festival starts on Thursday evening. Due to all the corona measures, the organization has already renamed this edition to Edition 14 and a half, with the subtitle No Half Measures. Due to the corona regulations, only thirty people per cinema room can watch films this year, but people can also watch films online. ‘We will open with six different films,’ said director Alexander Mouret of the Leiden film festival Thursday morning in West Wordt Wakker on Radio West. ‘They are all sold out. So people want to come. Only, they are less people than usual. And rightly so. If you are older or in the risk group, I would also say: be careful. On the other hand, the cinema is one of the places that has been very clearly shown to be one of the safest corona outings with ventilation and all other measures. ‘ All corona measures obviously have financial consequences for the organization. “But we’ll survive.”

Parties want a temporary ban on fireworks to spare care

GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals want a temporary ban on the sale of almost all fireworks. In this way, it must be prevented that hospitals and GP posts already overloaded – due to the corona virus – become even busier around the turn of the year with fireworks victims. Both parties have been campaigning for an almost complete ban on fireworks for some time. But the cabinet does not want to go any further than the already announced ban on fireworks and rockets. The House of Representatives will debate the subject on Thursday.

CBS: producer confidence recovery stagnates in October

Entrepreneurs in the Dutch industry have become more pessimistic this month due to the developments surrounding the corona crisis. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), this means an end to five months in which sentiment showed a recovery. The indicator used by the statistical office to measure producer confidence went from minus 4.8 in September to minus 5.6 in October. In the previous months, entrepreneurs became slightly less negative each time.

CoronaMelder: 10,000 notifications per day, even at more than 1.5 meters

About 10,000 times a day someone in the Netherlands receives a notification from the CoronaMelder app. That estimates Ron Roozendaal, who as chief information officer of the Ministry of Health is in charge of the app, which has now been downloaded 3.7 million times. Not all of those 10,000 people were within a meter and a half of an infected person, Roozendaal admits to the NOS. In the vast majority of cases, the app recognizes the distance correctly. But in a small number of cases you were at a greater distance. ‘

‘Elderly people already fear lonely Christmas days’

More than 40 percent of Dutch elderly expect to celebrate Christmas alone or with their own partner this year. In any case, many seniors have already been indoors for weeks on their own, writes the AD, based on a survey by the ANBO elderly association among 1066 people. The survey shows that 41.9 percent of the elderly people surveyed stated that they would celebrate Christmas ‘alone or with my partner’. Just under thirteen percent still plan to spend those days ‘alone with our own household’. About 27 percent will receive people at home or visit family or friends themselves. Only 0.6 percent will ‘do something special together online’.

‘Regular and corona care cannot be kept fully operational’

It is impossible to keep both corona care and regular care fully operational in the coming weeks. That’s what Chief Nursing Officer Bianca Buurman says in the AD. Buurman is the most important advisor to health care minister Hugo de Jonge on nursing care and has previously argued for more money to train and retain nursing staff.

According to Buurman, hospital employees have “their backs to the wall” due to the increasing number of infections. ‘We know that at least twice as many corona patients will be admitted to hospital in the next four weeks. The care for them is more intensive because you are completely wrapped up, so more nurses are needed per patient. At the same time, citizens with other diseases also want to be helped. We simply don’t have the people to do that. ”

New update on corona pressure in hospitals

The number of corona patients in hospitals is still increasing. That is why Ernst Kuipers of the National Acute Care Network will also tell on Thursday what this means for healthcare, not only for corona patients but also for people with other conditions. Kuipers gives his update from the Erasmus MC university hospital in Rotterdam.

On Thursday, hospitals treated 2,376 people with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. 1,831 of them are in a nursing ward. That is the highest number since the beginning of April. There are 545 corona patients in intensive care, which is the highest number since the beginning of May. In the past two weeks, the number of corona patients in the nursing wards has increased by more than 650 and the number of patients in the ICs has increased by almost 250.

Commercial test streets must comply more closely with the rules

Commercial test streets must comply more closely with the rules, says Minister Hugo de Jonge of Public Health. That is why he is going to clarify the rules. For example, testing must always take place under medical supervision and registration must be in order. At the moment ‘probably’ not all commercial test streets are known, the minister said in the Lower House. A doctor is not always present and positive test results are not always passed on to the GGD. Then the GGD cannot carry out a source and contact investigation.

If the companies do not comply with the rules, the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate will intervene, De Jonge warned. Last week, the inspection already reported that customers should ‘not automatically’ assume that all commercial test lanes are equally reliable.

READ ALSO: ‘Public health at risk because commercial test streets do not report positive tests’

Noordwijk youngsters design mouth masks for young and old

Young people from Noordwijk have designed masks for their fellow students and teachers. In total, 3,000 masks were made for Northgo College and Teylingen College Leeuwenhorst. Since Monday, it has been mandatory to wear mouth masks at those schools.

‘By involving young people in the corona measures, there is more willingness and understanding. That is extremely important, ‘says teacher Harry Mulder of Northgo College. ‘In the coming period we will look at what more we can do to make young people co-owners of the challenge of reducing the number of corona infections,’ says rector Cees Slats of Teylingen College Leewenhorst. The schools work together with the municipality and organization Youngpwr. The young people will soon also be designing masks for the elderly and lonely of Noordwijk.

Coronakaart

How many infections were there in your municipality? On our corona dashboard you can see, among other things, the current risk level of your region and the daily hospital admissions.