27 April 2020 Update from A Locked Down Ghent

Yesterday the National Crisis Center announced that the COVID-19 death toll toped 7,000. 204 new COVID-19 patients were admitted to hospital, while 368 were discharged. There are currently 3,959 patients receiving treatment in Belgian hospitals. The number of new admissions to hospital has been hovering around 200 and have not gone down for a few days now. This number needs to go down to under 100 per day if stores are to be allowed to reopen, as planned, on 11 May said Prof. van Ranst one of Belgian’s lead virologists. In addition the Belgian Prime Minister, Sophie Wilmès, stressed that the resumption of activities following the confinement would be an evolving process in which the health situation would be assessed before going on to the next stage. To me it sounds like a lot of things are put into question again. Do we need to start managing our expectations…? Whilst we’re all focused on the corona crisis, the timing of the lifting of the lockdown and our economy is anticipated to contract by between 8 and 9%, talks on the Brexit resumed. Just image if a no-deal Brexit comes on top of this. Then the economy would take another hit. It would be a disaster on top of a disaster. I sincerely hope that common sense will prevail over national interest and/or pride. Stay safe, stay healthy - Statue of the Van Eyck Brothers at the St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium