Day by day, the Dutch government announces new quarantine measures. Should there be a full lockdown for everyone due to COVID-19? Or can we continue like this? No one is allowed to go to public places. Restaurants, bars, and even public libraries are now restricted areas. Our hair has never been this long because barbershops are closed. What will I look like when this is all over?
By Erwin Sanders
Right now, I am still a groomed young Dutch man being quite sceptic about what is going on around me. How is it possible? Thousands of kilometres away, citizens of the Chinese city Wuhan got a virus, and now we are all sitting at home. In a social lockdown. If we like it or not.
Slowly, the Netherlands is sliding towards a total lockdown where no one is allowed to go in or out of the house. We are already not allowed to gather with more than three people.
Is this the right way to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic? I don’t think so! Even if the government decides to lock down my country for let’s say a week or six more, what will happen afterwards? No one will know because no one can predict the future, and to this day, credible scientific data is missing. It is almost certain that the virus will pop up again and will attack our elderly and weak people.
Stay home
For now, we are told to stay home as much as possible. ‘Stay home, stay home, stay home’ is the message—empty streets, beaches and terraces everywhere. At the same time, the beautiful spring sun is shining. The moment that so many people have waited for, after a long, dark and rainy winter.
What do Dutch people normally do when the sun shines for the first time? We go out to eat that first ice cream and get some of that necessary vitamin D during our first long spring walk. Unfortunately, we cannot do that this year. We have to stay inside, in our own gardens, to avoid infecting the country.
If we go out to the grocery store, we must keep a distance of 1,5 meters to avoid respiratory droplets from someone else landing on our mouth or nose. If those droplets land on your body or face, and the next time you touch your face, and then you rub your eye or nose, you will get infected. At least that is what we are being told.
Do not infect each other; be careful, and keep your distance. I must admit that most of us are trying our best to comply with this rule. Does it really work? We will find out soon enough. So far, I say to most of us: ‘Great job in that and keep it up’. One day, we will beat this virus!
Hysterical reactions due to the media
The power of the media is to publish news articles and write reports on things that matter. Preferably as fast and as accurate as possible. Today’s situation shows that the media spreads stories very quickly. It is spreading them faster than Covid-19 is spreading its bacteria upon us.
The comparison between those two is that they both destroy lives. Hysterical reactions everywhere due to daily updates of people dying and the small number of beds in the Intensive Care. There are stories about people deliberately sneezing and coughing in public, and the resulting anxiety explodes. The media almost guides people not forget to panic with such kinds of stories:” Does he have the virus, and if they are too close, will I be infected now?” Panic is everywhere.
Every day, the news starts with an hourly update on how many people are infected and how many deaths the virus caused in the last 24 hours. Please be stressed, please worry, please panic if we keep this up day after day, week after week. What will happen to us?
None of these actions will change anything for anyone and will definitely not reduce the panic.
Post Covid-19
This virus is causing an unprecedented economic crisis by locking people down and shutting many companies. The focus on these precautions may remain in our system and could potentially lead to a new, systemic awareness of hygiene.
This could have a positive impact on our society. If large groups of people continue working from home to avoid going onto the streets and risking infection or infecting others, it positively impacts our environment.
If a big percentage of those people choose to work just one or two days a week from their homes, how would the world look in a few years? Will the waters of Venice stay clean, dolphins keep getting closer to ports, and smog seriously decrease? Let’s not be too optimistic, but let’s stay positive. We are stronger and much smarter than Covid-19, and we will beat it together. But until that moment, I remain in the corona lockdown
