In 2020, Jaap van Dissel made frequent headlines as an infectious disease control expert and as chairman of the Outbreak Management Team following the COVID-19 pandemic - the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands - SARS-CoV-2 causing the contagious respiratory disease COVID-19. Partly on his advice, measures were taken by the Rutte III cabinet for the public health to prevent the spread of this virus disease, including the “intelligent lockdown”.[2] As a speaker at several government press conferences, he explained the background to these measures.