Sensemaking
The thing that Rutte did right here was sensemaking. He was good at explaining what was going on, what it meant and what needed to be done. Crisis management and crisis communication by the book. Rutte's performance and clear communication certainly helped to win the election again in the spring of 2021.
One thing that was very strong was that Rutte and De Jonge practiced their press conference and messaging thoroughly. The result: fewer mistakes and clearer messages. It also shows that even when you are extremely busy, you should always find time to practice your message.
Long-term perspective moderate
Later, more criticism arose about the communication and the long-term approach to the crisis. It was insufficiently clear to the Dutch what the perspective was and what they could and should do themselves. Moreover, ambiguities and contradictions were quite common. For example, while some clained that mouth masks were the safest option, Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM claimed that they were not very useful. And how could it be that our lockdowns (at first not so strict, later much stricter than in the rest of Europe) were so different from those in surrounding countries.
The Dutch Safety Board emphasizes (in retrospect) the lack of clear communication about the various scenarios and the need for a broad values discussion with society. Then it would also have become clearer what we ourselves could do.
Parliamentary Inquiry
A parliamentary inquiry on corona will start soon (success Daan de Kort!). It will be interesting to see how general communications regarding corona will be judged by then. I'm sure the picture will be mixed. And rightly so. Some things have gone very well and others have certainly not.