21 April 2020 Update from A Locked Down Ghent

Yesterday the crisis center reported that168 people died of COVID-19. This makes a total of 5,828 fatalities since the outbreak of the pandemic. Also, 232 people were hospitalised bringing the total of COVID-19 patients in hospital to 4,920. Regardless of how sad these numbers are, they keep moving in the right direction! Therefore, everybody wants to know when the lockdown measures will be lifted or relaxed. To temper too much hope experts shared graphs showing what would have happened to hospitalisations without measures on 14 March and if measures were stopped on 16 April. Both models suggest that without the corona measures there would have been an exponential increase in the figures. Net-net, our efforts to stay at home helped to manage the situation. The graphs also tell that the lockdown measures should not be lifted too quickly. There is a lack of group immunity and a second outbreak could erupt very quickly. Anyhow, for all Belgian residents the current measures will remain in force until 3 May. The national security council is expected to provide greater clarity about what will happen after 3 May on Friday. Stay safe, stay healthy! - Kraanlei, Ghent, Belgium