Four misunderstandings about fighting coronavirus in the Netherlands. “It is no coincidence that the North is better,” says virologist Alex Friedrich of UMCG – Groningen

Misunderstanding 1: Evidence

To control the crown pandemic, the North began to test more, and the rest of the country should do the same. Three weeks ago, microbiologist Alex Friedrich received criticism from Minister Hugo de Jonge with this plea. Subsequently, the minister withdrew criticism and the cabinet adopted a policy of trying much more for the crown.

“It is a misunderstanding that there was not enough testing capacity in laboratories in the Netherlands at the time,” Friedrich said. “Many GGDs were unable to perform enough tests on people. They didn’t have enough protective materials or maybe too few people to do that job. “

The number of tests is still lagging. Laboratories can perform considerably more tests than a few weeks ago, but GGDs take far fewer tests than possible due to the laboratory’s capacity. And the next problem arises again: the contact investigation. “Only in northern hospitals we do this easily with any contamination. We investigate who the care worker has contacted and we warn, test, or isolate these people. Sometimes also without complaints. Outside of hospitals, GGDs investigate family members with complaints, but no contact investigations are conducted. That would make sense.

“If the problem is that GGDs don’t have enough employees or that healthcare organizations don’t have their employees screened because they can’t afford it, then that needs to be solved,” Friedrich said. “If you think it’s important, should there be something to do about it? If necessary, ask medical students to volunteer for these tests. Or give doctors a role.”

Misunderstanding 2: The North was only lucky

The fact that the North has the fewest corona infections in the Netherlands is partly a matter of luck. Carnival is hardly celebrated and spring break fell just before the outbreak in northern Italy. But it has been reinforced by the fact that the University, the UMCG and, in its wake, other hospitals in the North took strict measures before the rest of the country, says Friedrich.

,, The University and we as UMCG were the first to stop the meetings and prohibited employees from traveling. First outside the Netherlands and then outside the northern provinces. We were the first to reduce our unnecessary care and postpone or care for patients from other regions. And then we were able to quickly assess our employees and their families.

“Infected people from Tyrol also returned here. Because we were able to track 90 percent, we were able to better stop the spread than the west and center of the country. “

It should not be underestimated that the UMCG has found infected about a hundred employees who returned from a ski vacation. “The UMCG and the university are, of course, great organizations with an inspiring effect on patients and staff across the country. That could have been a great source of pollution for the entire North. “

Misunderstanding 3: it’s an unstoppable tsunami

“It is a mistake to think that the crown pandemic is a wave of infections that you cannot stop. It is more like a floor where suddenly there are holes of small epidemics. As if water dripped through it. You should immediately put your finger in those holes to cut the epidemic out of the root. Here in the north and especially in Groningen, most of the holes have been found. Then, national policy put forward all the measures to stay at home. As a result, fewer and fewer open holes. That together has caused a significant delay. “

Because of the delay, that’s what fighting the crown is all about. “The doubling time for the number of patients in the Netherlands today is 14 to 16 days. But with us in the north it is 22 to 30 days. We have been able to reduce the numbers and they have to decrease even more. But even so far it’s only a decrease in the increase. The longer you can stop the epidemic, the more likely it is to increase. “

Misunderstanding 4: group immunity

Blood tests from the Sanquin blood bank show that about 3 percent of the Dutch blood donor population now has antibodies against the coronavirus. That is important information for Friedrich. “Just to realize that the story about group immunity is not true. Just think what this 3 percent has already caused in hospitals and deaths. It’s just not socially acceptable to go with natural infections up to 60 or 70 percent, which is what you need for group immunity. “

We are not even sure if that immunity is really effective. “The only way to safely achieve that group immunity is a vaccine. But that will take a while. “

Now we know more, because of Sanquin’s sample. Calculate: ,, 3 percent infected means half a million people in the Netherlands. If the sample is representative, covid-19 has a 1.3 percent mortality risk after infection based on CBS mortality rates. “

The measures are still necessary. ,, We can no longer return to the situation before February 27. One and a half meters away, the use of face shields in some professions, things like that will continue to be necessary in the coming weeks and months. “