Professor Vlieghe says “Flatten the wave while it still isn’t gigantic”
The infectious diseases expert Professor Erika Vlieghe has told VRT News that we need to act now to stem the upsurge in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations of those with COVID-19. Speaking on VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’, Professor Vlieghe, who is Chair of the body that advises the government on measures to curb the pandemic, said that the coronavirus figures are a cause for concern.
Above all the fact that those that are being hospitalised end up in intensive care so quickly is deeply worrying.
"This is the bottleneck. You must also be able to offer seriously ill people that don’t have corona the necessary care. This will become a problem in a few weeks. It’s like with a flood. The water level will take a while to drop. This means that some relaxations of the measures will be compromised”.
Professor Vlieghe added that she believes that it is no more than logical that given the figures some action is taken by those in government. The team of experts that make up GEMS, the advisory body that Professor Vlieghe chairs, have already made several proposals. However, Professor Vlieghe is keen to stress that it is up to the politicians to decide if all or at least some of these recommendations will be followed.
"What needs to happen now is that we flatten the current wave before it becomes gigantically big. Because this can happen very quickly. Everyone has the ambition to get things back to normal. However, this all depends on the evolution of the figures”.