Hospitals notice a 10 percent loss of staff due to illness, just now that there are more corona patients

“Our nurses have to work hard now that colleagues are sick at home. Each nurse now has to care for about two extra patients per day,” the hospital said. One of the patients is Rita, Flip Kowlier’s mom. “I notice that the nurses now have less time for a chat, which is a shame.”

The number of covid patients is also increasing. There are now 24 people with corona in Izegem, while there were only six four months ago. Pressure is also high in many other West Flemish hospitals. They sometimes accidentally discover the covid infection in the patients, but there is also another group. “A number of other patients are elderly people who received their booster shot in October or November and they are now coming back in with covid,” says Steve Lervant, director of care at Sint-Jozefskliniek Izegem.