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According to the Daily Mail, the incident occurred in Hemelrijck, a nursing home in Mol (Antwerp, Belgium) in early December. Specifically, the person who plays Santa Claus was invited to Hemelrijck, where about 150 elderly people live, to participate in the Christmas celebration.
But 3 days later, Santa Claus suddenly fell ill and received a positive result for SARS-CoV-2. Santa Claus is known to be completely healthy and does not show any symptoms of infection prior to the visit. The health agency quickly ran large-scale tests at the Hemelrijck nursing home and found up to 75 people with Covid-19, including 61 seniors and 14 employees.
On December 26, the Daily Mail reported, Santa Claus infected 121 elderly people and 36 employees at the Hemelrijck nursing home. The saddest thing is that 18 people died. On Christmas day alone, 5 people died. It is said that “Santa Claus” is very sorry that his visit has infected so many people, and the mayor says that the nursing home has acted in an irresponsible and careless manner.
Santa Claus during the visit in early December.
According to local news sites, the “Santa Claus” event has not been reported to the city’s crisis center. According to the direction of the Hemelrijck Institute, the man did not go to all the rooms but only to the common area and the reception hall. He also maintains a safe distance from the elderly in the hospital, staying only in each area for a few minutes.
Staff initially confirmed that the man was wearing a mask and complying with epidemic prevention regulations, but photos from the event showed that this was not true. The images show that not all residents wear masks and that Santa Claus is in close contact with members of the nursing home.
Santa is in close contact with local residents.
The authorities will carry out further studies to determine whether this visit is actually the cause of the outbreak at the Hemelrijck nursing home.
Belgium, like many European countries, is suffering a second pandemic when the long winter makes the country’s health system almost overloaded. The number of deaths from Covid-19 in Belgium reached 19,089 with 637,246 cases of infection.
(Source: Dailymail)
