The terraces may open as early as the Whitsun weekend!
There is a chance that the terraces will be allowed to open not on 1 June, but as early as Saturday 30 May or Sunday 31 May. Rutte said this during a parliamentary debate on the coronavirus crisis.
Don’t celebrate just yet; there are still many ifs and buts. For example, RIVM director Jaap van Dissel already said yesterday that we are still waiting for the advice from the Outbreak Management Team (OMT). And Rutte added yesterday: “Terraces and cafés may only open if it turns out a week in advance that doing so is safe.”
Rutte does not want to say what the criteria are for this yet; according to him, it is too complex.
Spreading out the crowds
But if it is possible, the terraces might even be allowed to open during the Whitsun weekend in order to spread out the crowds. Rutte wants to discuss this with the hospitality industry. “There needs to be practice, and an answer must be found to the question of how they would deal with the crowds during Whitsun.”
This could mean that the terraces may already open on Saturday 30 May or Sunday 31 May, but it could also be as late as 2 June, according to the prime minister. He did emphasise that everyone must keep a distance of one and a half metres from one another, including family members. “Otherwise it cannot be enforced.”
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