In other words: how a 17-year-old fights for her life against an unreliable government. At least that's how it feels to her. Her life is: going to school, going to meetings, looking forward to the trip abroad of her graduating class, her weekend job. Due to the prevailing arbitrariness at government institutions, despite the fact that she has gone through Corona and despite a positive test, she will probably not be able to go on the final trip abroad of her final exam year. This is an obstacle to her development, an infringement of her civil rights, a source of distrust. I don't want to go so far as to say that it is traumatizing for her because she feels too good about herself for that. But messing around with a teenager like that, I'm afraid, is damaging and in any case it doesn't promote anything at all.
[Edit 31-12: two sentences also referred to exclusion from 2G events. Fortunately, that is not the case. In my angry bewilderment, I didn't have that right for a while.]
The situation arose after the GGD committed a breach of contract, took a different test than agreed and says afterwards:
"Yes, you can be invited for a PCR test, but on the spot, the person taking the test decides which test is best for public health. We don't test to make you travel, we test for public health."
Literal words GGD corona policy officer, we have ended up in a caphaesque bureaucracy.
A trip abroad is practically impossible without a QR code. You then have to get tested daily in a foreign city. Of course, that holds up the whole group, especially if they spend the night in different cities.
So if your child is going for a PCR test, explicitly ask for the PCR test at the test location and also ask for the name of the tester. If you don't, they will sew you an ear in front of you.
The only question all three of us were asked was "Have you been vaccinated?" It seems that if you say "no" and they think "he should actually get vaccinated" then you get an antigen test, or a National Ankle Bracelet. That is effectively nothing more than a travel restriction. The test person on the spot therefore decides that despite your positive test, you are not allowed to leave the country unless you get vaccinated.
They seem to be under the delusion that their blackmail increases the willingness to vaccinate, entirely in accordance with the wishes of the despots who do not take our civil rights very seriously. If my daughter had any doubts, she will not get vaccinated at all now.
Breach of contract by the government
Breach? Certainly, because her file states that she has been invited for a PCR test. This has been confirmed by telephone by a certain Cas (they do not give last names at the GGD helpdesks). She had also requested that PCR test because of course she wanted an internationally valid recovery certificate. Instead, she was supplied with a defective product.
My wife, who applied for the test at the same time with the same symptoms (they both did it because I was PCR positive and wanted an international recovery certificate), received an international recovery certificate, just like me.
And how does it work with 17-year-olds: they flutter on, who trust the system, that they are okay too, they don't immediately check whether they have an international recovery certificate... and now, weeks later, a new PCR test no longer makes sense. She now feels cheated by the government. Her trust has been damaged.
Regentesque arbitrariness with major consequences
"Positive! Yey!" That was great news for her, the flag went out. Thanks to the positive PCR test, she no longer had to Test for Access and would be able to go on a trip abroad with her school. Not so, just: not. Unfortunately, the GGD can't do anything. She has tested positive just like us, but she is the only one who gets no international proof of recovery. WTF!? Why not? It is precisely she who needs him the most.
We have made 16 phone calls, have been cut short several times because they hang up in case of contradiction. GGD locations, Back office, IT Back Office, Test locations, we were referred from pillar to post because no one else could do anything for us. Those people are only there to make their managers unreachable, the only ones who could do something about it.
Yesterday it seemed to go well for a while. After calling different numbers a few times, we ended up at GGD Amsterdam. An employee (unfortunately no name asked, then we thought it would be fine) immediately recognized the problem. She consulted with her supervisor, asked for a little more patience and returned after a few minutes with the announcement that she had spoken to the test location (Kennemerland), that it would be corrected and that the internationally valid QR code would be available within 24 hours. She also gave us the number of GGD Kennemerland in case something was wrong. At the time, we still thought it was an administrative error. It was a party at our house again.
Unfortunately. The QR code did not work today. After calling GGD Kennemerland we got numbers to call again, everyone passed on something else. In the end it turned out to be a software problem, so at IT-BackOffice we heard from Lela that it had ended up in the system incorrectly and that it could be adjusted at the test location. Corona Policy Helpdesker Tremmor ditto: it had to be adjusted, this was not possible.
So I called the test location again, they confirmed that an antigen test had been taken. They couldn't change that. They didn't know why that was, so I asked about the criteria. After some transfer, this conversation followed:
"If someone is invited for a PCR test, what protocol is followed?"
A protocol was not known: "That is decided by the person who takes the test".
"And what criteria apply to that? Isn't it a future-defining decision that has a major impact on someone's room for manoeuvre for a year?"
"That is up to the person who takes the test, we cannot say anything about that, he chooses the test".
"Yes, but such a person decides with the wet finger whether or not someone can leave the country in the coming year, that is not possible!?"
"Sir, we are there for Public Health, not to ensure that you can go on holiday with your family."
How is it possible that a random corona tester from the GGD independently decides that a different than the promised medical test will be taken from my child? What kind of crazy people are they? Do they roll the dice for it? It has too many implications to list all here.
Willfulness or misunderstanding
My wife, like my daughter, could also remember that the only question that was asked was:
"Have you been vaccinated?"
Her answer, slightly surprised:
"Once, but can't you see in your system if I've been vaccinated?"
"Officially not, but we can see it."
We suspect that they prefer to take an antigen test instead of a PCR from young people, as an extra incentive to get vaccinated. You hit young people with a social disability harder than older people – or at least: that's what they probably say to each other in the OMT.
Mindlessness can hardly be blamed on people, unscrupulousness is a major and widespread problem.
Civil rights, integrity of the body, fundamental and human rights, moral compass, respect for fellow human beings – there will probably be a lot of overlap between these concepts, but they have one thing in common: the current policymakers are keeping them busy or not. Brown boots would also look good.
[Edit 31-12: two sentences also referred to exclusion from 2G events. Fortunately, that is not the case.]
Facebook post (#archief)
- in November I had symptoms and indeed: positive PCR test
- my wife and daughter were also invited for a PCR test. This is recorded in the GGD file (confirmed by GGD employee)
- Both had the same complaints, both tested positive
- this week it turned out that a GGD employee has decided to give my daughter a National Ankle Bracelet. She may have had a stick annoyingly high in her head, but according to the GGD systems, it turns out that it was not a full-fledged PCR test.
