6 March 2021: No longer in short supply…

6 March 2021: The latest figures on the coronavirus pandemic give us hope that a third wave of the pandemic can be averted in Belgium. Outbreaks of coronavirus are becoming rarer and fewer and fewer deaths are being recorded. In the week to 2 March on average 2343 people tested positive each day. This figure is down 1% on the week. The number of hospitalisations linked to coronavirus, however, continues to increase sharply. During the week to 4 March an average of 156 people with COVID-19 were admitted to Belgian hospitals each day. Let’s hope that the stabilization in the infection figures will quickly translate into a stabilization in the number of hospitalizations. Yesterday the government pre-empted the assumption that less stringent corona measures can work and announced its strategy for deconfinement. From 8 March outdoor meetings of up to 10 people will be allowed, providing social distancing is obeyed, with a recommendation to wear face masks. From April events can be held outdoors with a maximum of 50 people and if all goes well, the hospitality sector will be able to open from 1 May. There is a glimmer of hope, however, let’s not be blinded by it. The virus remains in circulation and is as dangerous as it was at the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, I continue to document my hometown. What I’m seeing is sometimes surreal, ugly, paradoxical and complex. It’s a little bit of everything and a little bit of nothing but it’s unique in its own right. On display today is something that was in short supply at the beginning of this unprecedent crisis – Design Museum, Ghent, Belgium.