Over a fourth of people think they’re immune to coronavirus

About 28 percent of people in the Netherlands think they are immune to the coronavirus responsible for Covid-19, and 33 percent think the respiratory illness is no worse than the flu, according to a survey for newspaper AD. At the same time, about a fourth of people are either concerned or very concerned that their family members will wind up in the hospital as a result of Covid-19.

The survey of 1,077 people was conducted by research agency Markteffect. It showed that around 34 percent of people between 35 and 54 think they are immune to the virus. “The risk is that these people will not comply with the measures to prevent infections. They are all additional individuals who can spread the virus,” said Ger Rijkers, a full professor of life sciences and biomedical science at University College Roosevelt in Middelburg.

“The immunity against coronavirus is a maximum of 10 percent of the Dutch population,” he said, clarifying his statement to say that is really an rounded up estimate. Anti-bodies to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strain showed up in the blood of approximately 5.5 percent of blood donors in the Netherlands, Sanquin said in early June.

Both Rijkers and Erasmus Medical Center virologist Marion Koopmans believe that the country should do a better job of clearly articulating the dangers of the coronavirus. “Quite a few stories are circulating. I can imagine that this leads to confusion,” she told AD. Koopmans believes that armchair scientists cherry-picking details from some academic studies often wind up giving false hope to people.

“The message must be, ‘This is a rapidly spreading virus that leads to a serious and partially misunderstood disease,’” She said.

Just two of every five young people said they do not do a good job of sticking to the coronavirus rules. Also about 64 percent of Dutch people say they are irritated by the lax adherence to the government measures. Roughly the same amount of people, 62 percent, believe others are irresponsible when they choose to fly somewhere on vacation.

About 71 percent of those surveyed think there will be a second wave of coronavirus infections in the Netherlands.

Support was still relatively high for the government’s policy measures used to fight the spread of the coronavirus strain, with 76 percent saying the rules were a good or very good decision. About 85 percent self-identified as doing a good or very good job of looking out for people in vulnerable health.