Dutch probe criticizes government’s pandemic response

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An independent report on the Dutch response during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic says the Netherlands was inadequately prepared. The Dutch Safety Board report published Wednesday said authorities in the Netherlands “became overly fixated” on hospitals while focusing too little attention to care homes, education and other areas. The safety board’s chairman calls the pandemic the biggest social crisis to hit the country in decades. The report was critical of the government’s approach to care homes, About half of the country’s COVID-related deaths before September 2020 happened in care homes, an outcome the safety board called a “silent disaster.”