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Almost four weeks after the country has been closed again, there will be a mini relaxation with a reopening of the shops. There is still debate about how many people are allowed around the Christmas dinner.
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“We shouldn’t lose the progress of the past four weeks in a few days.” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) on Thursday tempered expectations in the House about the Consultation Committee, in which the top federal ministers and the federal states discuss the corona rules on Friday. There is therefore no question of any major relaxation.
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Experts on the brake
There is little doubt that the shops can open again. Neither the experts nor the politicians strongly oppose this, although some view the Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (sp.a) with the necessary suspicion. It would not be the first time that he took a tough stance. Vandenbroucke mainly relies on the compass of the health experts. They are put on the brakes when relaxing, according to a note from the circle of top health experts to the Consultation Committee.
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‘Like after the first wave, the RMG wants (Risk Management Group, red.) warn against releasing the measures too quickly. The figures remain high, ‘it says. ‘Only once the figures have fallen sufficiently can careful phased easing be implemented. It is imperative that adjustments are made quickly once an upward trend occurs again. That is essential if we want to avoid a collapse of our health care system in the coming months’, it says.
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As after the first wave, the RMG would like to warn against letting go of the measures too soon. The numbers remain high.
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Still, a reopening of the stores seems in the works. Especially because the scenario’s about the evolution of the epidemic show that the store closure on 2 November had hardly any impact on the decline in corona figures. The experts also say they never asked for stores to close. ‘In itself, a visit to a store does not have to be a huge risk. The concern is more about crowding in and around shops, ‘says Professor Erika Vlieghe. She sits in the inner circle around Corona Commissioner Pedro Facon who held the pen of the experts’ final advice to the Consultation Committee.
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In itself, a visit to a store does not have to be a huge risk. Rather, the concern is the crowding in and around stores.
Erika Vlieghe
Infectiologist and member of the team around Corona Commissioner Pedro Facon
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The main question is under what conditions the stores can open. The condition is that not too many people are present at the same time and that there must be sufficient crowd control to avoid a Christmas rush in shopping streets such as the Meir, the Nieuwstraat or the Veldstraat. Large chains such as IKEA can organize this themselves, in the shopping streets it will be the task of the municipal authorities. This weekend will come too early, it is said. December 1 is put forward in government circles.
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Quebec-model
A much more complex knot is Christmas and New Year. In recent days, the MR and CD&V have been forcing to allow enough people around the Christmas table. MR Chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez referred to the Canadian province of Québec, which allows private gatherings of ten people during the Christmas season. Germany also has ten people come together. “That is why there should not be ten, but three to four per family,” says Bouchez.
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Although the arguments for that ‘Québec model’ may not be that strong. In Canada, a surge in corona cases is attributed to private Thanksgiving Day gatherings, which are celebrated there on October 12. The Canadian example shows how difficult to control the corona virus in a closed circle. Especially if due to the context of family or friends, the respect for the health rules is lost.
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Moreover, our healthcare system is still under pressure, with 270 admissions per day, 4,500 people in hospital and more than 1,000 in intensive care units. The evolution of the pandemic may follow the most favorable scenario of the Restore consortium, which helps the government to estimate the impact of measures on hospital trends, by the end of this month it will still easily be 2,000 people in hospital. According to our information, the consortium looked into whether it was possible to estimate the impact of a possible Christmas relaxation, but that soon turned out to be impossible because it was too complex.
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The strictest scenario is at most one extra contact per family at the Christmas table, and two for singles. The corona tandem De Croo and Vandenbroucke seems to support that idea. But Walloon Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo (PS) put himself on the line with Bouchez yesterday, and made it clear that four guests per household were welcome at Christmas. He therefore also wants to relax the curfew on Christmas Eve. Flanders advocates for the lonely and old people from the retirement home to celebrate Christmas in one household at home.
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Flanders advocates for lonely and old people from the retirement home to celebrate Christmas in one household at home.
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“The majority of the population understands that we will celebrate Christmas with fewer people,” said De Croo. He emphasizes looking at the long term, with people sitting indoors in the winter, so that the virus spreads more easily. “We must avoid even more sorrow next Christmas.”
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