The statement from Jambon’s spokesperson really takes the cake.
How can you pretend virologists didn’t see this coming even 3 weeks ago, while Erika was already sounding the alarm early September? And if that’s not enough, actually dare to state you’re not blaming the virologists for not predicting exactly how many people would be in our ICUs by now, as if that made the difference.
I think they gambled on the vaccinations being able to turn the rise around in time. That would mean they would not have to back down from their Freeeeeeedooom! statements and could reap the rewards in the upcoming elections (although that’s still pretty far off for the average Belgian voter’s attention span).
Guess the paywall went up right after I posted this, so here are some highlights:
> One thing is clear: it has been a long time coming. If you look at the curves of Sciensano, you can see that the tipping point was already passed on 21 June. From that day on, the number of infections in our country starts to climb steadily and it doesn’t stop. At the beginning of October, the curve starts to go a lot steeper. From then on, GPs and hospitals crack up, classrooms close and reports about the fourth wave dominate the media.
> Red flags pop up regularly. Think of the reopening of nightclubs and discos in the Netherlands at the end of June, when the number of infections rose so spectacularly that they had to close again two weeks later. Around the same period, partying teenagers cause massive corona outbreaks on Mallorca.
> On 30 June, the GEMS issued an important warning to the government. “Even with high vaccination coverage, the number of infections can increase rapidly.”
> “This was indeed predicted,” says virologist Marc Van Ranst. “Had we implemented the relaxations more gradually in the summer, and kept the mouth masks, for example, we could have avoided part of this peak.”
> That politics is on a different track is already evident from the fuss around Tomorrowland.
> On 5 September, N-VA chairman Bart De Wever said in VTM News that Flemish people were “being held hostage by coronation measures for which there is no longer any support”. He wants to drop the mouth masks. A decision that Flanders will implement on 1 October, but will have to swallow four weeks later.
> “After De Wever’s statement, I sent an e-mail to all Flemish party chairmen explaining in ten points why it could still go wrong with the epidemic,” says GEMS chairwoman Erika Vlieghe. “Nobody replied.”
> The long incubation period of the virus is particularly treacherous. Because of this, waves of the epidemic first build up slowly, making it seem as if everything is under control, then suddenly an incredible power comes out of it. Molenberghs: “When the hospitals are not full yet, it takes courage to intervene. But there is always this hesitation, which leads to a yo-yo policy. It seems that a donkey will fall victim to the same stone four times.
> “Well, should we have handled it differently? That is a tough question with a fairly pragmatic answer,” says the spokesman for Flemish government leader Jan Jambon (N-VA). “The virus has turned out to be much more stubborn and aggressive than many people thought. Politicians, but also virologists. Three weeks ago, for example, the analysis was that without the introduction of a Covid Safe Ticket, we would be up against the limit of five hundred patients in Intensive Care, while that now appears to be an underestimate….To be clear, this is not a reproach to the virologists. It is a sign of advancing insight”
Because taking measures is acknowledging that the vaccines, while incredibly useful tools to limit the pandemic’s damage to our healthcare system, are not the silver bullet they have been portrayed to be. Suddenly, our perspective is gone: last year, we still had the launch of the vaccines to look forward to as the light at the end of the tunnel, but now, we are slowly starting to realize that the tunnel is longer and darker than we originally thought. Let’s just hope that the booster shots and the antiviral drugs that have been developed by Pfizer, Merck and AstraZeneca will offer some additional perspective.
My understanding is that they probably just stopped caring. I think they fear a lockdown would make sure they won’t get re-elected, and perhaps it’s also disastrous economically. I don’t know so well.
The way the Council met last wednesday, and this wednesday again, just to make minor measures – requesting work from home, masks for 10-11yos… I just see them as the ‘This Is Fine’ meme. I am not sure *why*, but I perceive it like that. Have you seen the situation with Universities? These are probably the most hypocritical part, having put CO2 detectors, supposed to be places where knowledge and stuff is common, while ignoring these CO2 detectors and *even* threaten students who complain about them. Or perhaps it’s just UMONS for me.
I doubt it’ll be any different for people with jobs, bosses will find the same sort of stuff to not make you work from home.
Some people don’t like rules so they try to bend them without thinking about the consequences.
Elections and polls, only answer.
If you check the current wave’s death toll compared to the previous ones then it already seems far less necessary to still care that much about covid.
We are one of the top vaccinated countries worldwide.
Imo because of the people that refused to follow the measures in the first two waves it’s endemic now and it’s best to switch to a “stay home if you’re sick” approach where we as a society need to adopt a “hey what the fuck man” when someone sick shows up to work or a social gathering. Face masks on public transport in flu/covid season should also become the norm. Expensive testing and contact tracing can go for all I care.
It’s not unlike climate change: the people that claimed it wasn’t real at first ruined it for everyone so we’re all forced to switch to damage control now.
Time to copy Austria, full lockdown for anti-vaxxers, €1500,- fixed fine every-time they break the rules. Fuck those ppl seriously.
The amount of antivax nuts has been increasing significantly!
Maybe because once somebody has corona and their family members take a test and are negative. They can just go to work. Even if their familymember is still contagious. They just have to test again 5 days later. I sure wonder why the numbers go up…
Because puplic opinion turned. Everyone is guilty of this. I got downvoted here aswell when i said that we should probably keep wearing masks. Kind of curious where those people are now.
the people who say that the gouvernement handeled the pandemic badly, i would love to see them on the wheel. I give your country time untill January 1st 2022 to be totally wasted then
14 comments
The statement from Jambon’s spokesperson really takes the cake.
How can you pretend virologists didn’t see this coming even 3 weeks ago, while Erika was already sounding the alarm early September? And if that’s not enough, actually dare to state you’re not blaming the virologists for not predicting exactly how many people would be in our ICUs by now, as if that made the difference.
I think they gambled on the vaccinations being able to turn the rise around in time. That would mean they would not have to back down from their Freeeeeeedooom! statements and could reap the rewards in the upcoming elections (although that’s still pretty far off for the average Belgian voter’s attention span).
Guess the paywall went up right after I posted this, so here are some highlights:
> One thing is clear: it has been a long time coming. If you look at the curves of Sciensano, you can see that the tipping point was already passed on 21 June. From that day on, the number of infections in our country starts to climb steadily and it doesn’t stop. At the beginning of October, the curve starts to go a lot steeper. From then on, GPs and hospitals crack up, classrooms close and reports about the fourth wave dominate the media.
> Red flags pop up regularly. Think of the reopening of nightclubs and discos in the Netherlands at the end of June, when the number of infections rose so spectacularly that they had to close again two weeks later. Around the same period, partying teenagers cause massive corona outbreaks on Mallorca.
> On 30 June, the GEMS issued an important warning to the government. “Even with high vaccination coverage, the number of infections can increase rapidly.”
> “This was indeed predicted,” says virologist Marc Van Ranst. “Had we implemented the relaxations more gradually in the summer, and kept the mouth masks, for example, we could have avoided part of this peak.”
> That politics is on a different track is already evident from the fuss around Tomorrowland.
> On 5 September, N-VA chairman Bart De Wever said in VTM News that Flemish people were “being held hostage by coronation measures for which there is no longer any support”. He wants to drop the mouth masks. A decision that Flanders will implement on 1 October, but will have to swallow four weeks later.
> “After De Wever’s statement, I sent an e-mail to all Flemish party chairmen explaining in ten points why it could still go wrong with the epidemic,” says GEMS chairwoman Erika Vlieghe. “Nobody replied.”
> The long incubation period of the virus is particularly treacherous. Because of this, waves of the epidemic first build up slowly, making it seem as if everything is under control, then suddenly an incredible power comes out of it. Molenberghs: “When the hospitals are not full yet, it takes courage to intervene. But there is always this hesitation, which leads to a yo-yo policy. It seems that a donkey will fall victim to the same stone four times.
> “Well, should we have handled it differently? That is a tough question with a fairly pragmatic answer,” says the spokesman for Flemish government leader Jan Jambon (N-VA). “The virus has turned out to be much more stubborn and aggressive than many people thought. Politicians, but also virologists. Three weeks ago, for example, the analysis was that without the introduction of a Covid Safe Ticket, we would be up against the limit of five hundred patients in Intensive Care, while that now appears to be an underestimate….To be clear, this is not a reproach to the virologists. It is a sign of advancing insight”
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Because taking measures is acknowledging that the vaccines, while incredibly useful tools to limit the pandemic’s damage to our healthcare system, are not the silver bullet they have been portrayed to be. Suddenly, our perspective is gone: last year, we still had the launch of the vaccines to look forward to as the light at the end of the tunnel, but now, we are slowly starting to realize that the tunnel is longer and darker than we originally thought. Let’s just hope that the booster shots and the antiviral drugs that have been developed by Pfizer, Merck and AstraZeneca will offer some additional perspective.
My understanding is that they probably just stopped caring. I think they fear a lockdown would make sure they won’t get re-elected, and perhaps it’s also disastrous economically. I don’t know so well.
The way the Council met last wednesday, and this wednesday again, just to make minor measures – requesting work from home, masks for 10-11yos… I just see them as the ‘This Is Fine’ meme. I am not sure *why*, but I perceive it like that. Have you seen the situation with Universities? These are probably the most hypocritical part, having put CO2 detectors, supposed to be places where knowledge and stuff is common, while ignoring these CO2 detectors and *even* threaten students who complain about them. Or perhaps it’s just UMONS for me.
I doubt it’ll be any different for people with jobs, bosses will find the same sort of stuff to not make you work from home.
Some people don’t like rules so they try to bend them without thinking about the consequences.
Elections and polls, only answer.
If you check the current wave’s death toll compared to the previous ones then it already seems far less necessary to still care that much about covid.
We are one of the top vaccinated countries worldwide.
Imo because of the people that refused to follow the measures in the first two waves it’s endemic now and it’s best to switch to a “stay home if you’re sick” approach where we as a society need to adopt a “hey what the fuck man” when someone sick shows up to work or a social gathering. Face masks on public transport in flu/covid season should also become the norm. Expensive testing and contact tracing can go for all I care.
It’s not unlike climate change: the people that claimed it wasn’t real at first ruined it for everyone so we’re all forced to switch to damage control now.
Time to copy Austria, full lockdown for anti-vaxxers, €1500,- fixed fine every-time they break the rules. Fuck those ppl seriously.
The amount of antivax nuts has been increasing significantly!
Maybe because once somebody has corona and their family members take a test and are negative. They can just go to work. Even if their familymember is still contagious. They just have to test again 5 days later. I sure wonder why the numbers go up…
Because puplic opinion turned. Everyone is guilty of this. I got downvoted here aswell when i said that we should probably keep wearing masks. Kind of curious where those people are now.
the people who say that the gouvernement handeled the pandemic badly, i would love to see them on the wheel. I give your country time untill January 1st 2022 to be totally wasted then