Corona update: will these be the new measures?

Tomorrow we have another one, a ‘press conference’. An event that I've been looking forward to with mixed feelings since March 2020. Sometimes hope, sometimes fear, actually always frustration, also curiosity, and often I feel sad afterwards.

Big plus: it looks like we will get some easing tomorrow. Not much and it's mostly things that I don't really benefit from, but okay, it's a start.

The big question will of course be what will happen with the curfew and unfortunately nothing has leaked about that yet (although that will probably come tomorrow evening, right?). I have full confidence that it will not be extended, but at the same time I don't want to jinx it – sorry for that, hereby – and I already know that I will be mega disappointed if I hear tomorrow evening that I still have to be home by 9 PM. Totally sucks, I didn't expect that curfew to bother me so much. I actually thought I could handle it all, but apparently not. Well, that's a complaint that you all probably find very familiar.

But then the easing: PARTY. Especially a party for the parents who are completely fed up with homeschooling, because primary schools are reopening and so is childcare. And not a partial opening like before, but just fully. However, it still needs to be looked at how this can be done safely; there's a good chance that students will get a fixed ‘buddy’ with whom they will mainly collaborate.

That primary school is the first step of the easing has been made clear earlier. The order is as follows: primary schools and childcare reopen, then either at the same time (please at the same time, thank you very much) the curfew is lifted, then secondary schools reopen and subsequently shops and contact professions can open their doors again. Do you miss the hospitality industry in this list? Yes, me too. They are the very last in line. So far that they are not even mentioned. Not very hopeful, indeed.

And a bit about those shops: they seem to be allowed to reopen from February 8. Or well, partially. They can open their doors so that online orders can be picked up. That's already a step in the right direction, but carefree shopping is still not on the agenda. Although when they are fully open again, it will probably still take a while before the ‘carefree’ is fully back.

By the way, the cabinet has promised that the curfew will go into the ‘trash can as soon as possible’. Now that doctors and intensivists are also advocating for easing because the measures would demand too high a toll that is no longer proportional to the situation in hospitals, I actually look forward to tomorrow's press conference with quite some hope. Exciting, exciting.