Arjan Hilbolling (54) has not left Enschede for three years. He does not have a driver’s license. And he does not use public transport because no one wears a face mask anymore. Anything not to get corona. The outside world, which has forgotten about the pandemic, almost only sees him when he has to go to the hospital or the pharmacy. He is not visible, he knows. “And whoever is not visible, that need not be remembered.”
According to Hilbolling, this is also apparent from the latest advice from the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) to the cabinet. It states that the corona virus has reached the so-called endemic phase in the Netherlands. That is, the virus is constantly present but “where the entire population has built up immunity through vaccination or past infection.” Large-scale testing is no longer necessary. Washing hands and staying home in case of illness is sufficient. The government has yet to assess the advice.
More than a year ago, this newspaper already spoke with Arjan Hilbolling, Jacquie Davis and Annelies Hilgersom, after the cabinet announced that the lockdown was lifted. All three have a chronic condition that can cause serious illness or even death due to corona. NRC this time asked them what the latest OMT advice means for them.
The OMT speaks fleetingly about the group of vulnerable people; the hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes, heart disease, muscle diseases, severe asthma, cancer, immune diseases, among other things. Healthcare personnel and informal carers are advised to avoid contact with this group if they have complaints, or to wear face masks in their presence, even in this endemic phase.
Free face masks and self-tests
The rest of the Netherlands may be relieved, but virtually nothing will change for us, says Hilbolling. His group is still only mentioned in “the fine print” – so far, the only effort from policymakers, he says, is a free package of face masks and self-tests. And they still have to protect themselves. Because precisely because of this advice, he fears, people may think that corona is no longer contagious or harmful.
Annelies Hilgersom (53) from Zoetermeer, like Hilbolling, has lived in isolation for the past three years. Her 15-year-old son recently took online education to protect his mother. Hilgersom has recently let go of the most rigid measures – her son can go back to school and will join him on a ski trip.
Hilgersom would prefer to fully participate in society. But because of the OMT advice, she wonders whether the masses will even take people like them into account. That is quite difficult, because you cannot see that she is vulnerable. “Do I have to ask other customers in the supermarket via a public address system if they want to keep their distance?” According to Hilgersom, the timing of the advice is downright unfortunate: the number of hospital admissions is increasing and the last repeat injection was more than three months ago.
Fear of misunderstanding
Jacquie Davis (41), from the center of the country, fears that the lack of understanding for people living in isolation will only increase. “I am already being told that I do not live in reality, that I have an anxiety disorder or that I exaggerate because I isolate myself. If corona disappears even more from people’s consciousness, it may get even worse.”
I’m already being told I have an anxiety disorder because I isolate myself
Jacquie Davis
Read an earlier story about Arjan Hilbolling, Jacquie Davis and Annelies Hilgersom: ‘Open the country’ means: take cover
Even some of the mental health practitioners do not understand it, according to Davis. Davis would like tools to better deal with the current situation, but is advised to get out of isolation again – while that is precisely not possible. A supervisor even said that Davis could also look at the situation from the positive side: after all, others have died of corona. “I am already depressed. I don’t know how I can keep myself mentally healthy under these circumstances.”
Of the friends Arjan Hilbolling had, only one is left. The rest don’t understand why he’s still inside after all this time. They walk around in a society in which everything is allowed again, he says. At first they asked him on the phone how he was doing. He answered honestly: that he can’t go anywhere is pretty tough. “They got bored of hearing the same thing over and over again. But this is the only story I have. I don’t experience anything else.”
Hope for ‘corona pill’ from Pfizer
What could make the lives of the vulnerable a little easier? Davis hopes people will continue to test despite the OMT advice and stay home if the test turns out positive. Hilbolling thinks it would help enormously if the antiviral drug paxlovid, also known as Pfizer’s ‘corona pill’, was made available to more people with fragile health. In addition, he would like to see face masks still worn in public transport, in the hospital and at the pharmacy.
But that solution seems far away. Davis and Hilgersom notice that they get strange looks when they wear a face mask. Davis: “I seem like a living reminder of corona to many people when I wear a face mask. It feels like they would rather I stay inside so they don’t have to be reminded of that time.” Hilgersom has sometimes deliberately coughed and sneezed when she was wearing a face mask.
And what about in the long term? Arjan Hilbolling would like to go shopping again or walk through another city. Utrecht, for example. At the very least, he hopes that the number of infections will be low this summer so that he can “refuel” on a terrace. With a glass of wine and pizza, he says. “Then I can persevere to go into isolation again in the fall and winter.”
I’m not suicidal, he emphasizes. But if he also has to stay indoors on sunny days, it will be “very dark”.