Government officials in Netherlands have encouraged their single citizens who have been quarantining alone to look for a partner as they consider that sex is a necessity, even in times of lockdown.
Authorities say they are willing to permit single persons who feel lonely to “make arrangements” with a willing partner who be permitted to go and visit.
With more than 43,000 people infected with the coronavirus and a death toll of 5,600, the Netherlands has been on lockdown since late March.
Citizens are allowed to have up to three visitors in their homes, provided they keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other. Naturally, this precludes most sexual activity.
However, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has admitted that two sex-free months is a grim proposition. For those who aren’t quarantined with a partner, the organization now recommends that lonely people find a reliable partner to break the distancing with.
“Discuss how best to do this together,” the RIVM wrote on its website this week. “For example, meet with the same person to have physical or sexual contact (for example, a cuddle buddy or ‘sex buddy’), provided you are free of illness.”
“Make good arrangements with this person about how many other people you both see. The more people you see, the greater the chance of the coronavirus.”
Should one partner suspect they’ve been infected, the RIVM advises they switch to “sex with yourself,” or “at a distance,” by telling erotic stories to each other and the like. The organization even suggests “a vibrator that you control remotely” as a stopgap replacement for intimacy.
At present, those unable to make an “arrangement” with a partner are out of luck. Brothels will remain closed until September, and sex clubs, bathhouses and gay saunas will stay shut until at least next week.
