Mon, May 4, 2020
Read in 3 minutes
Amsterdam Hub alumnus, The Netherlands
Today, the 4th of May, is our Remembrance of the Dead. We commemorate everybody from our Kingdom who has died in wars or peacekeeping missions since the start of World War II. Flags hung half-mast. The national ceremony on the Dam in Amsterdam, attended annually by our king and queen, together with thousands of other people, will be an impressive sober equivalent this year.
Because this year it’s different. The king and queen will still be there, together with only a handful of other people. It’s an adaptation of our former life to what we’ve started to call the ‘one-and-a-half-meter economy’: figuring out how to live while maintaining the 1.5 meters distance between us. Essential shopping and sports are fine. Group gatherings of 3 and more are not.
Going into our ‘intelligent lockdown’ made complete sense. We needed to prevent overburdening our healthcare system. What we saw happening elsewhere was terrifying. Therefore, trying to limit exposure and contain the disease was all we could do. When we read the news, people are talking about the war against corona. I am not sure I like the militaristic sound of it. To me, it seems something different. Whereas in wars, people are killed by people, and you have two opposing forces, we’re on the same side now.
That doesn’t mean that we don’t have new heroes. It was clear that the Dutch intensive care unit capacity was not enough to deal with corona. So hospitals—nurses, doctors, cleaning personnel and admin staff—scaled up in anticipation and doubled the capacity. “More is an illusion”, the society for intensive care doctors announced. And it wouldn’t be possible to service that new capacity of beds indefinitely.
We crossed the threshold on March 25th. At April 7th we peaked. And on May 1st we got below the threshold again. That’s great news: times seem to be changing. It was like April announced a new life while the sun has shown itself for a record number of hours. It helped lift our spirits. The positive news makes people treat the lockdown more loosely. People seem eager to get out. The ones who are able to, can do so.
Yet a lockdown comes at the cost of stalling normal life. Few to no visits or visitors, depending on your age and vulnerability. People struggle with loneliness. Businesses are dying to open again. Or perhaps better said: they’re dying if they don’t. But the human impact is becoming increasingly visible. Funerals during which the 1.5 meters distance feel terrible, friends told me, as nobody was able to support that lonely widow or give her a hug. Family members not being able to attend the funeral of their beloved grandparents. The human tragedies are real. And will be felt long after our lockdown is over.
At times, I can’t help but think about the reduced quality of life for many people, and how much we win by it. From not being able to get support while you’re ill and most need it, to not being able to say goodbye to loved ones. Others lose their incomes and experience so much insecurity. Does it mean we shouldn’t be in a lockdown? Is it even possible to measure that or quantify that? I don’t know – but it’s a delicate balance that needs to be struck. Until when? That’s something we can’t answer.
Tomorrow, May 5th, is Liberation Day. It’s the 75th anniversary of being liberated from the second world war. We celebrate our freedom. But this year, paradoxically, in order to celebrate our freedom, we have to restrict our own, and celebrate our freedom 1.5 meters apart from each other. I am sure it’ll be a Liberation Day to remember.