Over a third of people in the Netherlands aged 35 to 54 believe they won’t catch coronavirus, and men are more likely than women to think so, according to research published in the AD at the weekend.

The research, involving a representative group of 1,077 people and carried out on behalf of the paper, found that 28% did not believe they could be infected with the virus.

In addition, many people think they have already had coronavirus even though this has never been proved. Around 25% of people who have not had a test say they think or suspect they have had coronavirus at some point since the pandemic began.

The Parool has also interviewed a number of experts in geriatric medicine and medical ethics about how best to protect the elderly and people with vulnerable health conditions against the virus, now it is on the rise again, and youngsters appear to be the main carriers.

Several of them, including members of the government’s Outbreak Management Team, have said there should not be a repeat of the total ban on visits to nursing homes, as there was earlier in the pandemic, but called for an open discussion about what can best be done.

‘Let us leave the elderly at home, if that means we can give young people space,’ former VVD senator and medical ethics professor Heleen Dupuis told the paper.

‘They are the ones who have to keep social processes doing. It is a logical and defendable position,’ Dupuis, who is 75, told the paper. ‘And it is better for our own protection if we go into public places as little as possible.’

Exams

Paediatrician Karoly Illy, a member of the OMT, said youngsters are having a difficult time because of the virus.

‘School, events, social activities – everything which is important to them for development and contact – has gone,’ he told the paper. ‘So let us look at how we can better protect older and vulnerable people, so that youngsters keep room to move.

Researchers at the University of Maastricht have found that four in 10 teenagers were lonely during the lockdown and that they are increasingly pessimistic about passing exams.