‘We are very concerned about the spread of the covid-19 virus in your age group,’ writes University of Antwerp rector Herman Van Goethem. In the open letter, the University of Antwerp asks its students not to respond to the relaxation of the Security Council. The universities of Ghent and Hasselt are now making a similar call.
–
The open letter, signed by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Guy Hubens and scientists Herman Goossens, Erika Vlieghe and Pierre Van Damme makes a clear appeal to the students of UAntwerp: ‘Our advice is not to accept the offer of the Security Council to establish such close contacts with each other in this way, ‘writes Rector Herman Van Goethem.
‘At the moment the Security Council has opted for new rules which, as far as students are concerned, boil down to this: 1) on the one hand there is your home environment, where you obviously do not keep a distance and do not wear a mouth mask; 2) from now on you may also, for example at the university, form a group of a maximum of five, each time for one month; so with fellow students with whom you can stay without a mouth mask and with less than a meter and a half away ‘, the UAntwerp writes in her email. ‘Our advice is not to take up the Security Council’s offer to establish such close contacts with each other in this way. If you did, keep those contacts really as limited as possible. ‘
Ghent and Hasselt follow Antwerp
The universities of Ghent and Hasselt support UAntwerp with their call not to follow the easing. There, too, the students received an email from their rector. ‘We have consulted with our experts, Niel Hens and Geert Molenberghs, and we are nevertheless very concerned about the relaxation,’ says Rector Luc De Schepper. ‘That is why we sent an email to our students to comply with the old rules and not to apply this relaxation. We know that the virus is spreading very quickly in that group. We realize that we are asking more than what is legally required and this is a voluntary appeal for our students. But we want to safeguard education and hospitals. ‘
The mail from the universities comes a day after the Security Council last Wednesday, where it was decided, among other things, that everyone may have 5 close contacts per month. This new rule has met with a lot of criticism from various scientists.
–
