Marli Huijer, Professor of Public Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam and former physician and Denker des Vaderlands is of the opinion that the government has involved society far too little in the approach to the corona virus. Democratic debate is largely absent and because it is difficult for people to always comply with all measures, they become corona tired. She says: ''We must become co-owners of the problem, instead of the solution being imposed from above.''
As human beings, we are full of adaptive capacity and this is where the solutions should have come from, according to Huijer. And those solutions should be solutions that society itself comes up with: creating safe spaces for the elderly, for example. This also applies to young people, says Professor Huijer in the article in AD, because if you make young people partly responsible for the problem, they will also feel responsible and think for themselves about how to minimise the risk of infecting someone else. It is better to stick to measures that you have jointly thought are good. Young people are now missing an important part of their development, Huijer argues.
The causes of the COVID 19 virus are mentioned in the article: decreased biodiversity (relatively speaking, there are more human hosts for the virus), obesity and the amount of fine dust in the air. Marli Huijer believes that a radical change is needed: ''[...] a good balance between the lifestyle of humans and that of all other animals, plants and micro-organisms. Such that a small microscopic particle cannot suddenly cause such havoc among people.
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Marli Huijer's reflections on the approach to the COVID-19 pandemic can be read in the ADÂ (in Dutch)