Virologist Marion Koopmans: Stick to Five Feet

Stick to the 1.5 meter rule for a while! Virologist Marion Koopmans makes that call this week in Virus Facts. Minister Hugo de Jonge said the rule could be thrown in the trash in June. Koopmans hopes with him, but wants us to be careful: “Don’t waste space too quickly,” she says in the podcast.

De Jonge told the House of Representatives on Thursday that the one-and-a-half-meter rule with access tests may no longer be necessary. After all, if everyone who is somewhere has a negative test result, the virus cannot spread any further. This would give free rein to catering establishments and events, where the rule of one meter and a half is sometimes difficult to apply.

Koopmans stresses, however, that you can’t stop everything, not even with testing. “You also see clusters of infections growing in lab experiments in the field,” she says. She therefore considers that it is too great a risk with current traffic to call into question the rule of distance. “Right now, we just don’t want to add that risk,” she says. It depends on how quickly the pandemic is weakening: if the number of infections is reduced, there may be more room.

Easy

She also did not think that it was necessary to delete that line precisely. “Measuring distance is relatively straightforward and has been proven to work. This is clear from evaluation studies of the RIVM, where large-scale population screening has been done. Something must be used that also works. long as needed, “she says.

The virologist would be genuinely sorry if the pandemic lasted any longer because we started hugging each other en masse. “Let’s not waste this space, I just want a great summer,” she said.

Download the NPO Radio 1 app

You won’t miss a thing with our app. Whether it’s national and foreign news, sports, technology or culture with the NPO Radio 1 app, you are always up to date. Download it here for iOS at here for android.

Report correction