Netherlands coronavirus cases surpass a million

It was painfully clear The Netherlands was totally under prepared for this kind of infection rates, ICU beds per capita was one of the lowest in Europe. Combined with a rather high people/km2, a government that advices instead of mandates and enough ignorant people that think they themselves will be just fine when ignoring advice.

It is amazing that the Japanese stats, especially Tokyo are so much lower considering Tokyo is a more than half the Dutch population in 1/20 of the area.

Several posters repeatedly held up Sweden as an example of herd immunity and the perfect response to COVID-19. Where are they now?

European countries, which have the most modern healthcare systems, also have the highest rates of infection and death from corona virus.

Curious.

Netherlands, in this case:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_Netherlands

The government strategy on pandemic control has been criticised for the refusal to acknowledge the role of asymptomatic spread and the role of masks in preventing spread, as well as for the lack of testing capacity, in particular during the first half of 2020.

A largely laissez-faire attitude towards the virus, and after months of discouraging the use of masks saying they promote a false sense of security, the government did an about-face that's too little too late.

And topping it all off, the royal family, ignoring the government’s advice to travel as little as possible, flew off to their luxurious holiday home in Greece, adding to growing mistrust and resentment at home.

In short, they didn't take the virus seriously, and it bit them on the ass

So, take the virus seriously