In a Belgian nursing home located in Mol commune, Antwerp province, an animator dressed as Sinterklaas – the local Santa Claus – infected 75 people with COVID-19. The Daily Mail reports.
The event was attended by 150 residents of the nursing home. Sinterklaas and his assistants – Black Pits – were wearing masks, but they did not maintain a social distance of two meters. Not all guests of the holiday were wearing masks.
After a visit to the nursing home, the animator Sinterklaas fell ill. Three days later, he tested positive for COVID-19. After that, local medical officials began mass testing of residents of the nursing home.
As a result, COVID-19 was detected in 61 patients and 14 employees of the institution. Their condition has not been reported, but at least one patient is known to have had to undergo oxygen therapy.
Maul Mayor Wim Caeyers expressed his condolences to the patients. He noted that the administration of the nursing home declared that all the necessary rules were observed during the event, but the photos of the participants prove the opposite. Kayers pledged to mobilize all possible medical resources to address the crisis in the nursing home.
One of Belgium’s leading virologists, Marc Van Ranst of the Catholic University of Leuven, expressed doubts that an animator could infect such a large number of people. He suggested that the cause of the incident was poor ventilation. However, the virologist noted that Sinterklaas’s visit to a nursing home during a pandemic is a very stupid idea.
Belgium has the highest death rate from coronavirus per million people in the world. According to the latest data, 608.1 thousand cases of infection with a new coronavirus infection were detected in Belgium by December 14. In total, 18 thousand residents of the country died from COVID-19.
Sinterklaas – a majestic old man with a white beard and hair, in a red robe and miter, arrives by steamer at the end of November from Spain to bring all the gifts by December 5. He has a lot of assistants – Black Petes, who do all the dirty work for him.