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Origo regularly reports on the epidemiological situation in Belgium. Here we write about the serious mistakes that the interim government and its health minister, the ultra-liberal Maggie de Block, had made in epidemiological defense. Here on Facebook, we feature the epidemic treatment of the mayor of Brussels, who loved to be selfish and who became better known for fighting the virus because he was not involved. The left-wing mayor (even pretending to be a Marxist) allowed demonstrations at the time of the first wave of the epidemic, which had serious repercussions in worsening the situation in Brussels. It is worth noting that there are basically two reasons for the extraordinary escalation of the situation in Belgium: one is that the Belgian government is taking its decisions belatedly and the other is that they generally turn out to be flawed. On Friday night, the Belgian government decided to basically shut down the entire economy. Everything except grocery stores and pharmacies will be closed.
Belgium surrendered to the virus
The country (which is actually (at least) two countries and a capital, Brussels, which also functions as a completely separate region) is, according to the Belgians themselves, a surreal formation, which is now largely held together by the fact that the European Union and its institutions are located here. . “Good God, what kind of country is this?Le Soir’s editor-in-chief, Béatrice Delvaux, asked in an editorial at the weekend of the newspaper: “Congratulations, you have finally understood the seriousness of the situation! Wallonia has become the most dangerous region in Europe, and the number of infected people has skyrocketed. Although experts criticize the insufficiency of the announced measures, hospital care is collapsing at the moment and the Belgians have surrendered to the virus. There is no doubt that Belgium has lost control of the second wave of the epidemic. According to health experts, Le Soir’s editor-in-chief put it mildly: Hospital care has already collapsed.
More dead and more infected in Europe
The country was already in a state of disaster in mid-October, and Origo analyzed in detail the path to this point and the sudden restrictive measures taken. So far, more than 11,000 people have died from the epidemic in a country barely populated by Hungary. Compared to the population proportion, this is the most dramatic figure in Europe, but the situation in the world is only worse in Peru.
On October 28, Belgium had become the most infected country in Europe in terms of coronavirus infection per capita (1,306 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and all indicators were deteriorating further. According to the European trend, the virus is most prevalent in the active age group 30 to 40 years, with about 1,200 people under 40 years of age currently hospitalized, 600 of whom are under 30 years.
In the 90s, the number of cases doubled weekly. According to Sciensano, all regions of Belgium (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) are seriously affected, but there is a gap between Flanders and Wallonia, according to the weekly Le Vif. in terms of number of cases.
In absolute terms, Wallonia (including the city of Liège with a daily infection rate of 2434) remains the most infected area in Belgium. There are currently 5,554 people hospitalized for coronavirus infection and 911 patients need intensive care. This last number has increased by almost a hundred compared to the previous day.
Epidemiology experts have just rated the near saturation of intensive capacity as the most concerning, as the number of people treated here is doubling every 8 days, in addition to the current increase. This is the most difficult issue in terms of bed capacity, “expanding the capacity of intensive care units is an extremely complex issue.” – He said M. Van Laethem, One of Belgium’s leading virologists for the daily La Libre Belgique, then added that “So before 6 November, “the health system can reach the limit of its capacity in this area”.
According to Le Soir, the situation is so dire that even the patient, including coronavirus nurses and doctors, are being hospitalized, and there is a danger that there will also be an unbearable interruption of GP care due to the referral of general practitioners to hospitals. The GP system has practically collapsed.
There was no free life-saving machine, the patient died.
Thus, it can be seen that, despite the introduction of ambiguous and chaotic restrictions, Belgium cannot control the second wave of the epidemic either. And the situation is truly dramatic. There are family physicians who received a positive result on average out of every 10 patients tested last week, compared to “only” 30 percent of patients tested a month ago.
In the weekly Le Vif, Peter Fontaine, director of the Brussels Hospital Association Cliniques de l’Europe, made a dramatic statement that the shortage of hospital equipment was also a serious problem due to the growing number. “A patient died this morning. We should have transferred him to a hospital that has a so-called heart-lung machine, but there was no such hospital. ”(The heart-lung motor allows the surgeon to stop the heart to maintain blood circulation and to perform life-saving interventions.)
Until now, it has been common practice to transfer patients from the Brussels region to the Flemish region, as Brussels hospitals no longer have vacancies. This will end soon, since according to Le Vif, Flemish hospitals will run out of beds next week, “we will be forced to select later, and not only among coronavirus patients,” added the director. Selection among patients generated serious and dramatic controversy even in the first wave of the epidemic. At that time, the ethics committee of the UZ Leuven University Hospital developed a procedure that was accepted by all Belgian hospitals. On this basis, the principle that priority is given to the patient with the best chance of recovery continues to prevail. If a decision cannot be made based on any criteria, the rule is that the younger patient has an advantage over the older one, but a young person with poor prospects cannot be given preference. If a decision cannot be made based on age, the patient who came to the hospital for the first time will receive care …
Paul Magnette, a well-known Belgian socialist politician, also spoke dramatically about the situation in hospitals, who posted a video on his Facebook account saying that the situation was very serious and that the hospitals and the doctors and nurses of the II. They haven’t been in a situation like this since World War II. His sentences, otherwise true, are counterproductive for a leftist politician because it was the interim government that could be linked to the left (there was no official government in Belgium for a year and a half) and then to the fundamentally left-wing government that was formed in the fall.
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the Brussels, Wallonia and Flemish regions have introduced different and contradictory rules, and each district has even had the opportunity to introduce its own restrictive measures after the government announced a curfew. partial on October 16. and bars, restaurants closed. Due to the rush that followed the delay, the farm was practically closed.
The rules for the schools were also unclear. The opaque rules, and as Belgian newspapers say, “cacofon”, also seem to have reached the stimulus threshold of the new prime minister, Alexander De Croo, who made his first statement on the epidemic on October 28 since his inauguration on October 1. October. In his speech, intended for his dramas, which is basically interspersed with platitudes, he called on Belgians to “unite” and “understand.”
Incidentally, the restrictive measures were largely harmonized as of midnight on Thursday, so, with one exception, uniform rules came into force in Belgium. (In Flanders, the curfew will take effect at midnight, while in the rest of Belgium at 10 pm) Under the new rules, you can shop alone (+1 person) and stay in stores for up to 30 minutes. Cultural institutions can only be open in the case of events or courses organized for groups of students under 12 years of age. However, the use of masks is still mandatory everywhere, but basically only if a distance of 1.5 meters cannot be guaranteed.
The provisions for the closure of restaurants and bars were also kept in force. In the words of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as of October 29, “Belgium will be partially closed.”
While the rules for wearing a mask are also unclear.
However, the next day, October 29, Friday night, the Belgian government announced further restrictions, significantly restricting the right of assembly to prevent people from gathering to prevent the virus from spreading, and in essence closed all the economy. Only pharmacies and grocery stores can be open from Monday.
The new Minister of Health also spoke. It seemed on the Belgian civil service news that, due to the dramatic situation, she could hardly stop crying. Frank Vandenbroucke is also the Deputy Prime Minister.
To reduce the burden on laboratories, only patients with severe symptoms are examined. It is statistically proven that if testing practice does not change, there would be 18,000 new infections per day, an increase of 66%. In the last week alone, 100,000 new infections have been identified. The pressure on hospitals is not easing either. The number of new patient admissions doubles every 8 days. If the trend continues, intensive care beds will be full after 7 days.
The federal health authority that oversees hospitals has ordered institutions to create a total of 500 new intensive care beds and 300 additional beds with capacity for oxygen therapy by November 2. This would increase the number of beds suitable for people with breathing difficulties to 2,800. The government, meanwhile, has run hospitals under the so-called It classified it as “phase B2”, which is the last phase of the Belgian system.
It is not yet clear how they will be able to create new 500 intensive beds in Belgium. In any case, the prime minister said: the current decisions are the last chance for the country.
It’s about what this means in practice. And what will be the consequences of living or just missing one last chance.
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