As previously noted, I had hoped to be able to stop this series of posts if there was no big surge in COVID numbers, and declare the pandemic over as a constant concern. But that’s not where we are. The government have just annouced that we’re going back to mandatory teleworking four days a week in Belgium. I am in a special situation where I am arguably working for two different employers, so I’ll see if I can get away with two days a week in Brussels, but I am not very hopeful.

I’m just back from five days in England, where for once I managed to do the Day 2 test (the last couple of times that I went to London, I left so early on Day 2 that the test arrived after my departure). It was gloriously negative.

Still waiting very anxiously as of this writing for the results of my return-to-Belgium test taken this morning. I feel about as grotty as I usually do after a series of late nights with friends, capped by Eurostar yesterday evening.

Belgian cases, hospitalisations and ICU beds are all showing a steady increase of around 27% at the moment; two more weeks of that and the caseload will exceed the record of November last year, so I can see why the government felt that something had to be done. Today’s numbers are:

10283 cases (weekly average from 3-9 days ago), comparable with 8 Nov and 23 Oct last year, when hospital numbers were 6893 and 3649, ICU numbers 1464 and 573, and deaths 173 (!) and 35. Likely to pass November 2020 peak of 15967. (Spring 2020 figures are unreliable.)

2693 in hospital, not yet above the April peak of 3215 but likely to surpass it in the next few days. Nowhere near November 2020 peak of 7461. (April 2020 peak was 5759.)

557 in ICU, way below the April peak of 947, never mind the November 2020 peak of 1470. (Which was higher than the April 2020 peak of 1286.)

25.6 fatalities (weekly average from 3-9 days ago), some way below April peak (42) let alone November 2020 (202) or April 2020 (282).

So, you know, it’s not as bad as a year ago, let along in Spring 2020, but it’s still bad.

And everyone needs to get vaccinated and continue being careful.