On Tuesday January 26th, Belgian health officials announced that the current confinement measures might be eased in the spring when most people over 65 have been vaccinated. According to inter-federal Covid-19 spokesperson, Yves Van Laethem, at the current rate of the vaccination campaign, most of Belgium’s at-risk population in residential care centers and hospitals should be protected against Covid-19 by the end of February. At that point in time, a large number of people would still remain at risk, specifically those over 65, as well as individuals between 45 and 65 with chronic conditions.
Authorities believe that only after these segments of the population have been vaccinated, will there be a significant change in the number of beds currently used by patients with Covid-19. Spokesperson Van Laethem reminded the public that this assumption only hold valid if the vaccines turn out to be effective against the new variants such as the ones seen in South Africa and the UK.
Currently, the number of infections has the same importance as the number of hospitalizations. The current threshold before relaxation of measures is set at 800 infections and 75 hospitalizations per day. The number of infections could become less relevant when the de-confinement strategy is evaluated.
“At that point, we could start looking at the factors that we know to be important, such as the number of new infections and hospitalizations, in a different way,” Van Leathem said. “It will probably be necessary to wait until April or May to consider such a change.”
After everyone in the residential care centers has been vaccinated, authorities hope to see a drastic reduction in the overall number of deaths in our country. This group, however, represents about 20% of the Covid-19 intensive care beds occupied in Belgium, Van Laethem said. “The relief for our healthcare system will be limited.”
