01-07 Belgium - John Bulloch

Belgium pandemic mortality numbers are the highest in the world. Partly because their numbers include people who die in nursing homes as well as those who die in hospitals. It suggests other nation’s numbers are understated.

The Covid-19 pandemic is global and transformational. So it is natural that professionals are trying to learn from one another.
It is a shock to learn that Belgium has the highest mortality per 100,000 of population, in comparison to all the other developed nations. It is something like 150 compared to 22 in Germany as of the end of 2020.
The photo shows a square in Brussels with just a man and his dog. My memories of Brussels, not unlike the Netherlands, is one of crowded squares and streets.
My first reaction to the numbers was the population density of Belgium. And yet the numbers in the Netherlands are not as severe as those of Belgium.
Has it anything to do with the Brussels International Airport, a major hub for travellers to Europe?
Something of interest is the high percentage of seniors who live in nursing homes in Belgium. Because that is where more than half the deaths have occurred.
The stories about nursing home deaths are not just a Belgium story. It is a global story. Nursing care staff without proper personal protection equipment or PPE has been reported everywhere. Belgium is not the only nation that has had to call in the armed services to help service seniors as health care workers die off or quit.
The real Belgium story is how pandemic deaths are recorded. Most of the official numbers are collected from hospitals where doctors confirm deaths that are related to Covid-19. In Belgium, they also record suspected Covid-19 mortality in nursing homes where patients did not get to a hospital.
What this means is that mortality numbers linked to Covid-19 are most likely understated around the world.