She was the very first person to be diagnosed with Covid-19. Since then, Bella Lamilla has been demonized from Ecuador. People walk around her with a big bow and she is bullied.
Pariah
Dutch ex-corona patients also suffer from the stigma, for example Rob van den Hoeven. “Especially in the beginning I felt like a pariah. A scary person”, he tells EditieNL.
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People in his neighborhood still behave anxiously. “So there is no reason for that. I am better again and cannot infect anyone.”
Unfairly
In the beginning he still understood. “Not much was known about it then. But once I have explained that I am not contagious, I think it is unjustified that people still do not come near me.”
Attention
He believes that the government and the media should pay more attention to the people who have been healed. “I don’t hear or read anything about that. I remain a special case. Of all the lists with the number of deaths and people on the ICs, the panic is only increasing.”
To share his experiences, Rob has created a Facebook page. “I hear that a lot of people have the same problem as me. They also have to deal with anxious reactions.”
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He finds it very strange that they are treated this way. “Actually, we should organize a big party with everyone who has had it. We are immune.”
Psychological
According to psychologist Gijs Coppens, it is a psychological phenomenon. “Stigmas are often related to diseases. People walk around you. That is very annoying.”
This applies especially to corona because we do not know much about it yet. “It is quite possible that there used to be fear of people with cancer. But so much is now known about it: people now know that it is not contagious. Corona has yet to walk that path.”
Remove stigma
He also believes that more can be said about ex-patients. “Rutte and the government should pay more attention to it. That way you take away that stigma a bit.”
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