The corona measures have been further relaxed and the advice ‘stay at home’ has not been valid for a while. However, some people still stay indoors as much as possible.
It is a done deal for Maureen Eising: she and her family must stay indoors. Maureen developed cancer 5 years ago and now has a rare muscle disease. This makes her muscles weaker and she can barely get out of bed on bad days. She has a poor immune system and takes immunosuppressive medicines for this.
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“This Can Kill You”
Maureen was shocked when corona broke out in the Netherlands. “I talked to my neurologist and he just said,” We have to make sure you don’t go to ICU, because this can kill you. “” That’s why Maureen, her husband and 9-year-old twins went into home quarantine. And they still live that way.
“We keep walking and cycling on the recommendation of the neurologist, but we don’t do much else. The supermarket delivers the groceries and we have neighbors who help us.” Maureen’s husband works at home and the children are still taught at home.
“We know what we are doing it for”
Maureen finds it difficult to stay indoors especially for her children. “My daughter misses the horse riding very much. And on King’s Day we had king’s games in the street, then my daughter was very sad that she could not participate. We only did our own games in the garden. Fortunately they know what they are doing it for to do.”
The only one who comes home to the family is someone who helps Maureen with her IV. “And then I sit outside, wearing a mask.” Family and friends are not allowed to enter, but they occasionally speak to them through the window. The children also hardly see their friends, since last week they meet with one friend, in the open air.
Guilt
Maureen and her family are still in this situation for the time being. “I am from someone who works and had a rich social life, became a hermit because of my illness. But it is worse for my husband and children, which also includes guilt,” she says.
She understands that it is necessary to relax, but regrets that people do not always follow the rules. “I would like people to stick to the 1.5 meter so that we can relax a bit more. I think it is outrageous that people keep cycling side by side, while I teach my children to cycle behind each other to keep their distance. And if you say something about that, they look at me weirdly. “
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Fear of the virus
Margaretha Coornstra also stays at home as much as possible. She works from home as a freelance journalist, groceries are delivered and she avoids the city. Actually she is mainly indoors. Margaret does this mainly for fear of the coronavirus. “The rules started too slowly and are being phased out too quickly,” she says.
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Her fear was mainly motivated by her mother’s sick bed 1.5 years ago. Margaret and her daughter nursed her mother at home until she died. “I am terrified that I will get COVID and maybe die, and that my daughter should not be with me. I have seen how important it is that trusted people are with you when you die,” says Margaret.
“Call me a scary hare”
She is afraid of the virus and wonders on what basis the measures in our country are being relaxed. “I think the easings are motivated more by economic motives than by medical ones,” she explains. “Call me a fright, but I’d rather stay at home.”
“There are some friends I miss very much, for a drink or a cup of tea. But we are only a few months away, everyone pretends it’s so terribly long. I don’t experience it as oppressive. I don’t think it’s normal, but a temporary and necessarily abnormal. “
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