COVID-19: U.S. Continues to Shut Down But in Holland They…WHAT?

In Holland (the nation also called The Netherlands - not the lovely town on Lake Michigan) they're suffering through an outbreak of COVID-19, the coronavirus, just like many other places in the world. However, according to The Irish Times, they have a little different plan than some. They've decided to give COVID-19 some rein and let it infect their citizens, hoping that will give most of the nation immunity. This is why you don't want to go to Amsterdam anytime soon.

On Monday, the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, announced:

“The reality is that in the near future a large part of the Dutch population will be infected with the virus,” Mr Rutte said. “We can slow down the spread of the virus while building controlled group immunity.”

Key government health officials in Great Britain and Sweden have also suggested this "herd immunity" plan, but a lot of healthcare professionals are not fans of the plan. They say this plan would make it tough to separate the young adults from the more vulnerable older adults. And the World Health Organization says:

"....we do not know how frequently immunity occurs after infection with this virus, and if it occurs, how strong that immunity is and how long it lasts.”

Here's the story.