The Dutch parliamentary committee investigating the government’s COVID-19 response this week focused on whether sufficient consideration was given to the societal consequences of lockdown measures. While former Prime Minister Mark Rutte testified that the impact on citizens – including loneliness, learning loss, and restricted access to loved ones – received “full attention” from the beginning, other officials presented a more nuanced view. Dick Schoof, a former top civil servant, highlighted the difficulty of quantifying societal harms alongside critical metrics like ICU capacity and the virus’s reproduction rate. Initially, protecting vulnerable groups and preventing healthcare overload were prioritized as official goals, with minimizing societal impact added later, prompting questions to Rutte about the timing of this shift. Rutte defended the government’s approach, describing policy-making as a balancing act and asserting that societal consequences were a key consideration. The inquiry continues to examine the trade-offs made during the pandemic and the government’s decision-making process.