Social distancing not mandatory in Delft student houses

Sneeze into your sleeve, don’t go outdoors unless necessary and stay one-and-a-half metres away from each other. Everyone can now recite the Government’s guidelines in their sleep. Members of one household or family do not fall under the one-and-a-half metre rule. After all, reasons the Government, they already live in close proximity. But are student houses, where the residents often share the same kitchen and sanitary facilities, also viewed as households? This question led to confusion and unrest in some cities.

Seventeen fines
City councils follow their own policies. In Amstelveen, the police for example issued heavy fines to 17 students who were sitting together outside. And in Utrecht, the police broke up several groups of students sitting on a lawn next to their student complex. In Groningen, police officers even told the residents of one student house that they would be fined EUR 390 if they did not keep their distance from each other in their living room.

The Student & Starter political party in Utrecht claims that the breaking up of the groups of students was accompanied by the message that students do not qualify as households. The police in Amstelveen also twittered (in Dutch) that student houses were not viewed as households in a local emergency ordinance.

In Delft, a similar emergency ordinance issued by the Veiligheidsregio Haaglanden (Haaglanden safety region) is in force. The description of households does not include student houses. Nevertheless, the Municipality of Delft has made an exception by viewing the residents and internal components of student houses as households. This includes gardens, balconies and roof gardens. “This clarity for students is very welcome,” says Ida de Boer, Council Member of Stip Delft. “And for the police it’s easier to enforce.”

Fines only in cases of excess
There is one snag though, and that is that outdoors, students in groups of more than two must maintain the social distancing rule. In Delft, the police are enforcing the one-and-a-half metre rule around student houses in cases of excess. “So in cases of parties or organised gatherings,” says police spokesperson Dick Goijert. To date, no students have been fined in Delft. “At least not to my knowledge,” says Goijert.

Delft is one of the few cities that has clarified the student house situation. Several local political parties and student unions have called on the Government to issue national guidelines. “It is now up to each municipality to decide how to enforce the rules. This gives rise to unequal situations in which students in one municipality may cook together in one kitchen, but may not do so in another municipality,” says Emma Hilde Fuchs Chair of the Amsterdam students union ASVA to the Hoger Onderwijs Persbureau (higher education press office). (Delta/HOP)

(HOP, Evelien Flink / Delta, Annebelle de Bruijn)