Marc Van Ranst. — © Kris Van Exel
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Whatever measures the Consultation Committee will take on Wednesday, they will not be popular with the population. And cheap either. Virologist Marc Van Ranst said this on Tuesday evening in ‘The appointment’ on Canvas. “But waiting is also not a good option. The numbers are going up every week, and we now know that it takes longer than a week to get those numbers down again. The last thing you want is to get to a level of five to six thousand new infections per day. That really has to go down. ”
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The current measures, which allowed us to remain on a – albeit quite high – plateau for seventeen weeks, are no longer sufficient, according to Van Ranst. “This is mainly due to the British variant, which is not only more contagious, but also makes more sick and therefore more people end up in hospitals and increases the pressure on intensive care.”
Van Ranst repeated his plea for a short but powerful lockdown. “A period of three to four weeks,” said the virologist. “Until after the Easter holidays, maybe a week longer. Then we are a little more sure that the measures are at work. ”
What additional measures was he referring to? The schools closed? Close the non-essential stores? Close the hairdressers again? Only essential trips? “You can discuss each of those measures,” says Van Ranst. “It is up to politicians to make a responsible decision. It is especially important that you have to give people opportunities to meet other people. It does not even matter that much with which measures this is done. You have to pick out enough so that you arrive at a package that works. Now take half-hearted measures, to tighten up again within a few weeks and again and again … That no longer works. People don’t want that anymore. There is still one bullet in our pistol, we now have to use it as well as possible. ”
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