27 October 2020: The house is on fire!

27 October 2020: Update on The Corona Pandemic – An enormous amount of virus is circulating in our country.  Over 1% of the population, and according to one lead virologist possibly up to 5% are actively shedding virus loads. 757 patients are receiving critical care. Their number is doubling every eight days.  Within less than a fortnight 2,000 patients will be in critical care and that is the maximum capacity of ICU units in Belgium. Since it takes ten days for a measure to show result the Flanders needs to act now. The house is on fire and we shouldn’t wait until fire has destroyed half our house before we take clearer action another top virologists said, responding to the pronouncements of the Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon, a populist of the right wing nationalist party,  who said last Sunday that as a responsible politicians he must keep a cool head and that he should not start hosing down his house because a fire might occur in the future. Anyhow, criticism from scientists, members of the federal government, governors and the healthcare staff in general made him change his mind. He is now calling for an extra council with his regional ministers later today. Let’s hope that the Flemish government will follow Brussels, the French speaking part of Belgium and our neighboring countries and will finally take the appropriate measures to address the current situation. One thing is sure we’re moving into a long and dark winter – Ghent, Belgium.