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Socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 in Zeeland

Overview by Mayor Gerben Dijksterhuis

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Origin of GMF

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GMF meeting in Brussels (March 2019)

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Our members

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Current situation

Review of events & current situation

  • Early 2020: 1st infections in the Netherlands
  • March 2020: 1st intelligent lockdown
    • Closure of public buildings; ban on jobs involving physical contact, closure of schools etc to relieve pressure on healthcare
    • Measures aimed at working from home, minimising social contact & 1.5 metre social distancing
    • Package of financial support measures for affected businesses
    • Specific to Zeeland: ban on recreational overnight stays in this tourist province
    • October 2020: 2nd intelligent semi-lockdown
    • November 2020: closure of public buildings, hospitality, maximum group size

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Current situation

Review of events & current situation

  • December 2020: Lockdown during the holidays
  • Januari 2021: Evening curfew and start of vaccinations
  • June 2021: Receding infections, lockdown lifted
  • December 2021 till now: Hard lockdown �during the holidays to stop �Omnicron-infections

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What we see now:

  • More discussion in society. Willingness to vaccinate declines.
  • Visits across the border for non-essential activities.

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Situation in province of Zeeland

Content and structures

  • NL has 25 security regions responsible for COVID-19 crisis management at regional level
  • Zeeland Security Region focuses on ensuring sufficient healthcare capacity, limiting infections and enforcing national measures
  • Project organisations set up for governmental coordination on issues arising from COVID-19 measures (economy, tourism & social domain)
  • Active role in project organisation on the economy, aimed at:
    • Identifying persistent problems
    • Organising action to help businesses
    • Coordination in Zeeland
    • Joint approach in post-corona period

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Support measures

National & regional

  • National: aimed at protecting jobs
    • Schemes for reimbursement of wage costs, reimbursement for self-employed people, deferment of taxes

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  • Regional – Zeeland
    • SOS programme (Dockwize) offers SMEs in Zeeland help from expert teams
    • Zeeland Financial Matching: voucher scheme
    • Voucher scheme for tourism planning & culture promotion fund
    • Via regional development company: Corona bridging loan
    • SME deal - digitalisation
    • Zeeland coronavirus monitor: update on latest coronavirus developments
    • Advice session for businesses from the affected sectors & opportunity for contact with mayor & provincial executive member

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Our local entrepeneurs

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Thank you for listening