Monday, August 23, 2021
Belgium will ease the rules on social contacts, events, mask-wearing, cafes and restaurants from 1 September – but not in Brussels, where vaccination rates are lagging behind the rest of the country.
Wallonia is set to turn red on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s coronavirus heat map. Brussels is already red, while Flanders is still classified orange. The whole of France is now on the red list, as is all of Greece and the south of Sweden.
Almost 18 months of working on the coronavirus frontline is taking its toll on medical personnel, with a new poll by Sciensano and KU Leuven pointing to widespread symptoms of chronic stress – fatigue, sleep deprivation and a general difficulty switching off. The study of 951 healthcare professionals found 54% felt constantly tired. Physical symptoms included muscle and joint pain (32%) and headaches (29%), while 24% of respondents reported experiencing hypervigilance. Only 11% of respondents said they had seen a doctor, psychologist or other health professional to discuss their condition.
Brussels’ Common Community Commission, Cocom, has come up with a range of ways to reach parts of the population who are more reluctant to get vaccinated. The health body is working with social media influencers, religious leaders and running campaigns on TV and radio channels targeting various ethnic and foreign-language groups including Arabel and Maghreb TV – and on the popular dating app Tinder. “A quarter of Brussels residents do not have a GP,” a Cocom spokeswoman said. “In the Matongé district, we spent six weeks in the field. We made posters in the different languages. We spoke with traders, hairdressers and local associations.”
The rules on mask-wearing in schools will be relaxed in Wallonia when classes resume on 1 September, but not in French-speaking schools in the Brussels region, due to significant differences in vaccination rates. In Wallonia, staff must wear masks in corridors and other common areas but can remove it in class. Teachers in Brussels must still wear their mask while teaching. Secondary school pupils will have to wear a mask during lessons in Brussels, but not in Wallonia. In Flanders, pupils in the last two years of primary schools will no longer have to wear a mask.
The Spa grand prix will go ahead as planned from 27-28 August, with 75,000 spectators in attendance. Visitors over 12 years of age must hold a Covid Safe Ticket showing proof of vaccination, a recent negative test result or the presence of coronavirus antibodies.
Some 5,000 people in Wallonia who were vaccinated with the first dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccine have not yet received their second dose. The region is organising catch-up sessions on 23 and 30 August. The list of centres participating in the initiative can be found at jemevaccine.be
A third of positive coronavirus test results in Brussels come from travellers who have recently returned from a red zone. “Since the beginning of July, the number of people returning from a red zone has tripled in Brussels and 37% of positive cases are returning from holiday,” said Inge Neven, in charge of Brussels’ coronavirus response. “It is important for people who have not yet been fully vaccinated to respect the mandatory quarantine and to be tested twice on return.”
Belgium’s vaccination taskforce has recommended that people with a weakened immune system receive a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. This group includes people suffering from leukemia and other cancers, people who are HIV-positive, and patients awaiting an organ transplant. The third dose will be a messenger RNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) and invitations should be sent out from September.
The government will meet this Friday, 20 August, to discuss ongoing measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. The consultative committee is meeting for the first time since 19 July. On the agenda is whether to continue to recommend teleworking, compulsory vaccination of hospital and nursing home staff and when to allow dance clubs to re-open. They will also discuss whether phase four of the ‘summer plan’ will go ahead on 1 September. That would allow more people – unlimited in some cases – to attend both indoor and outdoor events.
Federal minister of public health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) told Radio 1 that he will push for compulsory vaccinations for hospital workers and caregivers in rest homes. The minister was up until this point not in favour of requiring vaccinations, but the emergence of the more infectious Delta variant and a recent spate of deaths in nursing homes as a result have caused him to change his mind, he said. Together with Brussels authorities, he is also looking into offering secondary school pupils in the capital vaccinations at school when they return next month. Those would be voluntary.
Police handed out fewer than 200 fines over the last six weeks to people who had not filled out the Passenger Locator Form (PLF) before returning to Belgium from abroad. That’s only one fine for every 3,800 checks. “Most passengers were very prepared when they returned to Belgium,” said a spokesperson for the federal police. “The great majority of them had filled in their PLF forms. That’s important because it forms the basis for knowing if someone needs to get a test or quarantine.”
Opposition parties MR and CD&V have called for the Brussels parliament’s health commission to meet as soon as possible. The parties are concerned about the capital’s vaccination rate, which is far lower than the other two regions. Brussels has recently taken the step to ask assistance from religious leaders in convincing their congregations to get vaccinated, something, pointed out one MP, that Flanders did more than five months ago. MR opposition leader David Leisterh said that Brussels will be “punished threefold” if interventions are not taken immediately.
New measures have been handed down to nursing homes in Brussels in the continuing struggle to control coronavirus cases. Every member of staff who returns from holiday abroad must be tested on the day they return to work, regardless of what country they have been to or if they are vaccinated. Starting on 1 September, nursing homes with a vaccination rate of less than 70% among the staff and 90% among the residents must carry out regular preventative testing.
Biostatistician Geert Molenberghs of Hasselt University predicts that Belgium will turn red in the corona-risk colour coded map by next week. Brussels is already red, and the fast-rising infection rate will probably turn the other two regions red soon. “The number of infections per 100,000 residents over a two-week period is nearing 200,” he said. “So the expectation is the we’ll pass this mark and turn red.”
Belgium’s economic trade mission to the United States has been cancelled. The trip was meant to take place in the first week of October and would stop in Atlanta, Boston and New York.
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