4 July 2021: Staycation…

4 July 2021: We have not been traveling abroad during the corona pandemic instead we enjoyed Belgium’s cities of art and its art festivals. On display is a work of Henrique Oliveira. The wooden branches that crawl over the stone edge to the water is a work that he made at the occasion of the third edition of the Triennial Bruges. This year’s edition is in search of the hidden dimensions of the city. For many, Bruges is a dream destination, seemingly picture perfect, but is it? In Oliveira’s work it seems as if nature has free rein behind the walled city but has it. I’m sure that many environmentalists would not agree. Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus infections is up for the second day in a row, but hospitalizations and fatalities continue to fall. During the week from 24 to 30 June an average of 404 people tested positive for the coronavirus. This is 14% up on the figures for the previous week. On Friday 2 July, hospitals reported 21 hospitalisations. This brings the total number of COVID-19 patients that are being cared for in Belgian hospitals to 271, a fall of 29% on a week ago. Of those hospitalised 123 patients are on ICUs. There are three reasons for the increase in number of infections. First, the holiday period has begun and there has been a big increase in the number of tests that are being carried out. Second, the more contagious delta variant is gaining ground. Last, there have been the impact of the relaxations and the fact that more people are going easy on the basic rules of social distancing and the wearing of face masks. Subject experts, however, are saying that as long as the number of hospitalizations is going down, we shouldn’t be too concerned about the increase in the number of infections. Let’s hope they are right – Augustijnenrei, Bruges, Belgium.