“Other countries that preceded us also had similar figures and then reached a peak,” virologist Marc Van Ranst told HLN LIVE about what he calls “insane infection rates” in our country. According to the professor, we too are now “working towards a top”. Until that peak is reached, it is not yet possible to relax drastically, but after that it certainly can be, he says.
JV, SD
Latest update:
10:58
Source:
HLN LIVE
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“We do not see the doubling that we saw a few weeks ago, so the speed has decreased somewhat,” Van Ranst told HLN LIVE. “We think, because the test strategy has of course also changed”, he builds in some reserve. “At some point, every epidemic is going to lose some fire,” he said.
Whether the Consultation Committee will be ready for relaxation today? Van Ranst expects that it will mainly be about the corona barometer – “longer-term perspective, and that is also urgently needed” – and that politicians will possibly implement smaller relaxations, now that we are in the red phase. But those are “rather corrections to previous measures”, the virologist thinks. According to Van Ranst, it is still too early for more vigorous relaxation, such as in Scotland and England, because we have not yet reached the peak in our country. “But from the moment you can, you have to be able to relax.”
We cannot yet treat the corona crisis as a flu epidemic, the professor believes. “That is certainly too early.” The infection rates are too high for that. These have “not only an influence on hospitalization figures, but above all on society as a whole”, says Van Ranst. “A lot of people at work are sick or in quarantine. That continues to weigh on society.”
For Van Ranst, we can only deal with the coronavirus like the flu when non-urgent operations no longer have to be postponed and the postponed care can be made up for. “Then that should certainly be possible and you should also be able to relax with as much gusto as you have tightened,” he concludes.
The corona barometer “arrives very late”, says Van Ranst, “but it is also not easy to clarify the separation points between the different phases, and that is not always the same for every variant”. According to the virologist, the corona barometer remains a useful instrument to see which relaxation or tightening we can expect depending on the figures, also in the future with any new waves. But first, “we still need to get off red in this wave and get rid of all measures,” he notes.
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