GELDERLAND- “I am more often depressed by the corona virus with all the limitations that life currently has, with more fear of getting it or losing people.” This was said by a 25-year-old participant in the corona follow-up study of GGD North and East Gelderland.
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GGD Noord- en Oost-Gelderland is investigating the consequences of the corona crisis on the lives of the inhabitants in the region. A fifth poll took place from 5 to 11 September. Nearly 3,200 people participated by completing an online questionnaire. The GGD conducted the first four polls in March, April, June and September. The percentage of people with mental illness has increased from 15% in April to 20% in November. GGD NOG mainly sees a sharp increase in psychological ill health among young adults. More often than the older age groups, they experience feelings of fear, stress, boredom and loneliness. Eight out of ten young adults indicate that they ‘think it all takes a long time’. They miss meeting family and friends and going out. It also appears that the financial situation of young adults has deteriorated more often than average due to corona (18% vs. 11% average).
The research also shows that mental illness is more common among people with a low level of education (28%) and people living alone (26%). “Social contacts and outings are increasingly being missed. Life is getting a bit boring, ”says a single 29-year-old woman. Single people report more than twice as often that they feel lonely compared to people who live with a partner and / or have a family (40% vs. 17%). With the increase in the number of infections, we see greater support for the measures in November. The group that considers the measures excessive is relatively small (15% compared to 25% in June). We also see that more people succeed in complying with the measures in November than in the summer. For example, in November 67% indicated that it was (very) successful to keep a distance of 1.5 meters, while this was only 47% in June. In general, women and the elderly adhere better to the measures than men and young people. Of the respondents who had mild or severe flu-like symptoms (such as fever, sore throat, cold and / or cough) in the two weeks prior to the study, 49% had themselves tested. This is a considerably higher proportion than in June and September. Then respectively 12% and 29% of the people with complaints had themselves tested. Nevertheless, 51% did not have themselves tested for complaints. Many people do not get tested because they think that the complaints come from somewhere else, if they do not think the complaints are serious enough or if the complaints quickly disappear. “I will not be the first to get vaccinated, but if a large group has had it done and there are no problems, then I don’t think it is a problem,” said one of the study participants. Compared to June, the willingness to be vaccinated has decreased. At the time, 60% were still willing to be vaccinated, now 51% of people indicate that they want to be vaccinated. 36% of the respondents do not know yet. The study shows that people over 65 are the most willing to be vaccinated (69%), the 28-44 age group the least (35%). The most frequently cited reason for not getting vaccinated is doubts about the safety of the vaccine.
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