On Tuesday evening, the cabinet announced a national duty of masking in public indoor spaces. In areas such as schools, shops, museums, airports, cafes and restaurants, wearing a non-medical mouth mask will soon be mandatory for all Dutch people over thirteen years of age.
On Tuesday evening, the cabinet announced a national duty to mask the mouth in public indoor spaces. In areas such as schools, shops, museums, airports, cafes and restaurants, wearing a non-medical mouth mask will soon be mandatory for all Dutch people over thirteen years old.
Rutte emphasized that there is still some “legal” work to be done prior to the masking obligation. Until then, an “urgent mouth masks advice”, said the prime minister.
The masking obligation also applies in catering establishments, but Rutte also reported on Tuesday evening that the catering industry must close its doors for the time being from Wednesday. Also, alcohol may no longer be sold in the Netherlands after 8 p.m.
At the beginning of October, urgent mouth masks advice was issued for public indoor spaces and contact professions. Shortly afterwards, various sector organizations expressed the hope that a definitive obligation would soon follow, due to the limited enforceability of the advice.
Rutte hopes by means of the decision to settle the mouth masks discussion “once and for all”. The mouth masks advice has been the subject of discussion since the start of the pandemic. The Netherlands differs from other European countries, which are convinced that the protective equipment can prevent infections.
According to Dutch experts, there was too little convincing evidence for this. For example, large groups of Dutch people would have to wear a mouth mask for weeks to prevent one contamination.
