The epidemiological situation seems to worry our authorities to the point of bringing forward the consultation committee scheduled for Friday … This decision comes while the epidemiological figures are deteriorating day after day, especially in the north of the country. What to expect in terms of measurements? Should we act in schools? QR the news takes stock of the situation with Yves Van Laethem, inter-federal spokesperson for the fight against Covid-19 and Dimitri Van der Linden, pediatric infectious disease specialist, spokesperson for the pediatric task force.
New measures
For Yves Van Laethem, there is no doubt that new health measures must be required: “With the almost exponential increase in the number of cases and the growing number of hospitalizations, new measures will have to be taken, but it will not be a question of closures. On the other hand, it will be necessary to reactivate measures that were lifted too early, such as the mask. Distancing measures, too often absent in social life, and teleworking must reappear more systematically “.
Dimitri Van der Linden believes that measures should be harmonized for major events across the country. “If you wanted to run the 20 km of Brussels, you had to show your covid safe ticket. I think that such procedures should be generalized”.
A feeling shared by the spokesperson for the crisis center: “External events, such as fairs and Christmas markets, will multiply. It is time to remind people that the virus is still circulating”.
Worrisome situation in schools?
The spokesperson for the pediatric task force recalls that, as happened in previous waves, the incidence of cases in schools reflects what is happening in society. “The latest figures from ONE (editor’s note: National Office for Children) for the week of October 11 to 17 show an incidence of 94 cases per 100,000 in kindergarten, while it was 321 cases per 100,000 in society It is true that young children are tested less often, but this does not prevent this from reflecting the fact that it is not children who transmit the virus in a massive way. ” For the pediatric infectious disease specialist, it is vital to find a balance in the measures taken. To hear him, we should certainly not stop testing and tracing in schools, which makes it possible to maintain school activity as much as possible. He also insists that children not be intrusively tested with nasopharyngeal tests but rather with saliva tests.
Back to distance learning?
Dimitri Van der Linden is not at all in favor of the idea of resuming distance learning. “The children have already paid a lot in this crisis. Moreover, my child psychiatrist colleagues are talking about a second wave of psychiatry for children. There are lists of two to three months waiting to obtain a child psychiatry consultation and three months to be hospitalized. In my opinion, it is essential to properly measure the choices we are going to make for this age category. “
Back to school masks?
“The return of the mask for 12-18 year olds could be useful, even if young people are not the main vector of the epidemic. They are gathered at 25-30 in the same room for many hours. I think. that the school must be one place among others where the mask should reappear “.
For Dimitri Van der Linden, it is better to wear a mask than to take distance lessons. On the other hand, he believes that if we impose the mask on adolescents, we must also think about it for large places of work or leisure such as discos, and more generally, all places where people mix.
Vaccine for 6-11 year olds?
The current data for the vaccination of young people aged 6 to 11 are reassuring, specifies Dimitri Van der Linden. Moreover, in North America this vaccination of children will begin. “It is important to wait for the opinion of the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, and then the opinion of the Higher Health Council in Belgium. However, I wonder: is it really logical to vaccinate 6-11 year olds, knowing that they are little affected by the disease, when more than a million adults have not yet been vaccinated?