Sciensano and the national crisis center see things very gloomily, now that the number of hospital admissions is again rising sharply. “We see almost a doubling,” said a concerned Boudewijn Catry, who begs to strictly comply with the measures, even outside the fire in Antwerp. “The situation is not good, even worrying, and could get out of hand in the short term.”
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It should come as no surprise that the sharp increase in the number of hospital admissions is of concern to the experts: the number of infected people who need hospital care is a very reliable parameter to estimate the severity of the corona epidemic. The first wave also looked at this figure rather than the number of infected persons, for example.
Now that the number of hospital admissions is skyrocketing – it has almost doubled compared to last week – the experts are sounding all the alarm bells. Sciensano epidemiologist Boudewijn Catry therefore uses plain language. “The evolution of the number of infections and hospital admissions is not good. The situation is even worrying. ”
He fears that the situation will get out of hand in the short term if the population does not again strictly adhere to the imposed measures. “Therefore do not look for loopholes in the rules. Otherwise, we will not turn the tide and will return to situations that we saw in March and April. ”
Emergency doctors had already warned last week that the still low number of hospital admissions may have given a false picture. “After all, there is always the necessary time between the moment that people become infected and the point that their condition worsens to such an extent that hospitalization is necessary,” says Jan Stroobants, head of the emergency department at Antwerp’s Middelheim Hospital.
“Damn good”
Catry as well as the Home Affairs Crisis Center are well aware that many people are thoroughly fed up with the many limitations. “We understand the disappointed reactions, now that people have to cancel many things again, now that many plans are falling into the water again,” said spokesperson Yves Stevens. “Therefore: curse well, issue that you then find the motivation to relive the prevention measures, and probably for many more weeks.”
If the increase in the number of infections – on average about 330 people become infected every day – is not quickly reversed, both Sciensano and the Crisis Center fear that other provinces such as Antwerp will also take measures – such as stricter mouth mask obligation, earlier closing hours and a curfew – get imposed.
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