Is it over?

Politicians are slow to move on pandemic measures and the few that do take a big risk

One of the benefits I have is that I follow news cycles in my native Netherlands as closely as I do the Canadian ones, and for good measure take in the US as well. It has given me a good idea on how the Covid response has evolved across a number of countries and how the endgame is now playing out. Universally, the world struggled with the virus and no country stepped up adequately, but over time the lockdown, vaccination, mask and QR regimes began to roll out everywhere and what is more, they began to yield results.

The Dutch were accepting, but are not really wired to live with lockdowns as it interfered with the weekly pub nights and more crucially, the annual ski trip to the Alps. The cries for ‘freedom’ could be heard non-stop, but in the end they were largely minority territory. But new terms and new political alliances emerged, and the Dutch were even able to coin a new term as a result. Worried about vaccinating and masking their kids, young moms with healthy lifestyles and leaning to the greener side of the political spectrum started voting for a Trump-like populist party and were now qualified as the ‘yoga right’.

The riots of the hardcore anti-vaxx crowd however did often get out of hand, in Rotterdam in November the police opened fire on protestors sending seven people to hospital, a true miracle that no one died. But it gives you an indication on how far the police had to go to quell some of the most extreme and violent expressions of disagreement. The lockdown over Christmas and New Year’s that followed was too much for the Dutch and in particular the leisure, sports and creative sectors started to push the angry message of how deeply affected society had become by measures over a virus that was finally beginning to show some signs of abating.

Not sure if the RCMP is capable of opening fire on the truckers in Ottawa, it is unlikely as things are not nearly as violent as they were in The Netherlands, but borderline rhetoric is only steps away of things getting out of hand. But the protestors have now framed the debate, it has gone mainstream and it appears that beyond the hardcore and sometimes nutty persona that drove the initial wave of demonstrations, mainstream support is growing. The wait was for a more measured and reasonable politician to break the impasse as extreme positions and digging in on all sides do not generally help. A Liberal politician, Joël Lightbound (where did he get that last name from?) threw the gauntlet down by declaring his own party had started to ‘stigmatize’ and become ‘divisive’ and had therefore been not helpful in finding a non-political exit route out of the protests and Covid-mess. As of this writing he has not been booted out of the Liberal Party which may be a sign that things may start to move in a more moderated direction.

Dutch state secretary of Economic Affairs & Climate, Mona Keijzer was not so lucky. She was fired from cabinet in September last year after an interview in a daily where she underlined her moral doubts about the Corona measures. Most notably the impact on the young and, often not discussed but equally important, the curtailed ability to say farewell to the dead. Dutch restrictions on funerals were draconian and Keijzer in her own words could no longer sleep over how her values directly conflicted with a policy she was required to defend and help implement. Last week, no longer an active politician, she took to the airwaves to launch a signature campaign to open society under the name “Undivided Open". It was a resounding success and hundreds of thousands wasted no time to support the online petition, sponsored also by a number of doctors, academics and retired but well respected politicians. Only yesterday the Dutch government hinted that an open society is going to be the leading principle in framing Corona policies, while ensuring access to health for all. Very different from defeating the virus and rationing healthcare for all.

Personally, I would be glad if we can accept that the virus is now endemic and we that we can live with it. I gladly ‘Pfizered-up’ three times and stayed home most of the time which turned out to be an incredibly productive move. It took two years, but we now know that vaccination has worked to protect us from the worst variants and we can mitigate in all areas. There is also no point in testing at airports if you have already asked and mandated that the traveller test before boarding. And that goes to the heart of the issue in a way. Governments all over the world have set up infrastructure, signed contacts with private healthcare organizations, hired staff, built facilities, in fact created a whole new industry vertical based on providing safety from the virus. Now that the danger has softened it will be hard to dismantle this behemoth, so do not expect miracles anytime soon.

Politicians lead form behind: they were late in preventing the virus spread and they are late now that ordinary citizens are saying that we can begin to move on. And a lot of politicians will dig in and defend, trying to ensure to not replicate previous mistakes and many of them are dead scared to take unnecessary risks. And it is also balancing things and take a position that not everyone likes: yes vaccinations worked and we will mandate it in a number of areas and, no, QR passports and endless testing do probably not work in the long run. The people have framed the discussion and it takes a few brave, moderate and respected politicians to roll the dice with their career and try and nudge things into the right direction.

It is far from over, but we have all learned over the past two years and now we are seeing the beginning of the end.