Erika Vlieghe still with mouth mask in television studio: …

It is no longer necessary in stores. Not even in a restaurant. Many workplaces have done away with it. But professor Erika Vlieghe is one of the last to remain faithful to her mouth mask. On Monday evening she was a guest in the VRT program De Afspraak and was the only studio guest still wearing a mouth mask. “Until it is and remains really well under control. And then one day it will go off,” she said.

Vlieghe was a guest in the program to interpret the current corona figures. They are still showing an increase. “Cause to panic?” she was asked. No, not according to the professor. “But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong. As we see it now, the trajectory of the curves started higher in early September than last year. This is related to the delta variant. But with us it remains false flat. So he will go up. It does worry me. But it’s nothing compared to last year. Then we had a steep climb.”

According to Vlieghe, such a steep climb is no longer expected. “It’s more manageable. Hopefully for the hospitals, “said the infectiologist. But she emphasized that a serious additional load is expected throughout the winter. “That won’t be less. The flu is still coming. That doesn’t have to lead to dramatic scenes, but it can still be quite taxing for a health system that has already experienced three such waves.”

“Don’t let go of everything”

Yet again many people are ill, says Vlieghe. “We know that vaccines protect very well against serious disease. Not perfect, because some people still seep through. But that leads to hospital admissions to a much lesser extent. But the more it circulates, the more it can reach vulnerable people.”

The infectiologist is therefore clear. “We (the Gems advisory group, ed.) have been saying for weeks: be careful with the autumn wave. Panic is never helpful, but it’s important to monitor it closely. Contact tracing, isolating infected cases, mouth masks inside where necessary. You can still get infected. We can’t just let it go. At the moment there is still a lot of virus circulating. Do what you want, but do it as safely as possible”, is the message from Vlieghe. She adds: preferably outside, ventilate well, wear a mask where necessary.

“Nobody wants to go back to a rough winter. We think it’s important to be a little more careful. Don’t hug John and everyone. Do not sit together in a poorly ventilated room. This (infected, ed.) cases don’t come out of the blue.”

(sgg)

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