@Infoseepage I think at the start of the pandemic so much went wrong here. First, masks were barely if any available. They got hoarded, and the majority of the population didn't get a chance to get masks and they were so expensive too. (To compare, I can easily buy 50 for under 2 euro now).

So our RIVM said 'masks do not really matter, it's the distance that matters'. That's still stuck in our heads...

Oh man, in hindsight there were so many lousy decisions made. Add to that that our society is pretty much individualistic (though not as bad as USA), and you've got a population who's very tired of all those stupid decisions and are starting to get recalcitrant.