IC’s raken folder

Hospital directors and doctors are concerned, because the number of hospital admissions is increasing and in some places the international center is already almost full. Hospitals want the government, for example, to reintroduce mask adherence, measure one and a half metres, or switch to a third syringe more quickly. But will that work? People are losing jobs, quality of education decreasing along with the amount of “can you do my homework” search queries, mental and physical health of people struggling a lot. People can’t cope with restrictions.

Ari Dijkstra, professor of social psychology of health and disease at the University of Groningen, believes that conveying the message that the virus is still dangerous and requires everyone to adapt will be more difficult for Cabinet than last year. You shouldn’t think that people will do something automatically when the Prime Minister says so. This is different from last year,” says Dijkstra in Radio NOS 1 news. “At that time, people themselves felt threatened, but now most of them are vaccinated.”

Stimulating

Dijkstra thinks this has consequences for what the Cabinet should do: “You really have to start motivating people now: ‘Do it for others, for health care, think of the common good.’ But maybe that’s not enough, you have to, too. To make it easier for people. I read that there has only been a vaccination site in Staphorst since Tuesday, as many people have not yet been vaccinated. This is a typical example of how this is made easier.”

But things we already know can make it easier, too, according to Dijkstra. “Mudguards and fences and things like that are easy measures to direct people. You can keep whining about vaccination, for example, but you can also be rational and creative, because yes, it should work.”