Commercial interest in test events hurts confidence. That test result is already in.

Quite unexpected was announced this week that cultural and entertainment venues will be test sites for reopening society next month. It came rather out of the blue, as everyone was still working on petitions and other pleas to reopen cultural buildings. After all, they have their corona protocols in place there better than the Albert Heijn on my corner. But so now it is a trial at the reasonably orderly events sector to see if it can be done in many more places soon. (For me, please also at that AH) As the press release reports: 'With these pilots, the government will explore the readiness, manageability and feasibility of rapid testing, and the venues and arts institutions will gain experience.'

So, preparations for this reopening, which had to take place before all brakes go off this summer, have been busy in reasonable silence.

Thanks to columnists Pieter Derks (Radio 1) and Maxim Februari (NRC) plus a news item in the Volkskrant, the matter has now exploded into a real coronary. A riot that is very bad news for everyone, the cultural sector most of all. My mailbox is overflowing with worried questions from members and readers, and the concern is justified. Not to mention the many conspiracy theories, but I want to stay away from that for now.

News BV

A new governance culture seems to be the main theme of the formation. @pieterderks thinks there is only one route the very fastest way: new drivers. "I fear we will all be pinned before Mark Rutte makes way and that's not because the poking is so fast," he says. pic.twitter.com/Wc5aZhu2H1

- The News BV (@denieuwsbv) April 7, 2021

A few facts for those who were not paying attention these days because of coffee drinking in Museumplein: this month, starting this weekend, a number of theatres, concert halls, casinos and the Keukenhof will open to people who can present a valid quick test certificate (maximum 40 hours old), to be shown in an app to be downloaded for that purpose. That test is not just any test from any of the dozens of test providers, but can only be obtained from a location of Lead Healthcare BV, which runs several of them, across the country. The test (which the company buys for €7.50 and sells for €75) is free during the test events. After that - according to media reports on the subject - the industry has to provide its own funding.

Of course, anyone with a heart for art, or a gambling addiction because of casinos, is delighted with the imminent reopening. Especially also because the terraces are threatening to reopen on 21 April, because a concert without a terrace is of course impossible. Still, there are some niggles, and that has to do with transparency. There has been a lot about that lately because of Ollogren and her A4.

Check

It involves a lot of money going to few entrepreneurs (one) and a foundation that is outside democratic control, because, for example, already no anbi, so not obliged to be transparent. It is understood that the cultural sector's covid task force was already well into discussions with the minister and OMT on reopening by at least early February. They were so far that the Open Netherlands Foundation (of General BD Middendorp) and Lead Healthcare (which is fabulously wealthy is going to be a test monopolist) went into action in that month.

The Open Netherlands Foundation was established on 16 February this year with the aim of: 'Hhe contribution to the reopening of the Netherlands during and after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the setting up of a national physical testing infrastructure aimed at making it possible again to participate in (social) activities in the broadest sense of the word, despite any restrictions in force as a result of COVID-19, the contribution to the development of applications and other means, electronic or otherwise, to promote public health or to gain access to (social) activities, the raising of funds to achieve the above.'

Logical

The aim is: to test whether society can open up by testing everything and everyone as much as possible. That makes sense as long as not enough people have been vaccinated yet, and itself also makes sense when they are, because nobody knows yet how long the vaccines work and when another variant of the virus will emerge that is resistant to the shot. So it is foreseeable that we are still in rapid testing for at least another year. Not everywhere, hopefully, but often. Because we don't fancy more waves of virus and more yoga mamas with a google addiction.

Problem is already communication, because now the commercial set-up of it all raises many questions. As we know, 'I'm just asking questions' is the beginning of the fourth wave, due to scepticism and conspiracy theory. So that first result of the test is already in: don't be completely clear about your trajectory and shit will hit the fan. Of course, this is also because, thanks to the political culture of late, we have all become a touch more suspicious.

'I just ask questions'

So let us briefly limit ourselves to the questions we can ask in any case:

• how was the tender process for this multi-million dollar operation?
• Why is the GGD not involved in this?
• how do the commercial parties involved share the lessons learned with other stakeholders, and most importantly, the competition?
• what happens to the personal data of all the more than two hundred thousand participants in the events?
• is the app secure and complies with privacy standards?

We can surely think of more concrete questions. So for now, let us first make sure that transparency is in order, and that we are not frightened by the fact that there was a need to put this whole operation in the hands of the man who until two years ago was the country's top military man. Someone, in short, who knows all about roadside bombs, but whose knowledge about guerilla, civil war and trade in saffron: is that perhaps a bit of overkill to reassure the restless people in the Dutch polder?

Clumsy progress so far, and that is bad for confidence. Do something about that, task force!