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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2020)
10A — THE OBSERVER THuRSday, OcTOBER 29, 2020 WORLD Belgium among Europe’s worst virus hotspots By Raf Casert Associated Press BUIZINGEN, Belgium — Small, yet so divided, Belgium has been hit hard again by the pandemic, and now presents some of the most worrying statistics in a continent reeling under a coronavirus resurgence. If ever there was a common enemy for the rival Dutch- and French- speaking citizens and regions to fight, this would surely be it. But even now cooperation goes against the grain in Belgium, to the extent that the prime min- ister had to intervene with a special address to the nation Wednesday, pointing out that the circumstances demand exceptional mea- sures — namely: total unity. “As of midnight, with immediate effect, just about everywhere the same mea- sures will apply. The last thing we need today is divi- sion and a scattered order of battle,” Alexander De Croo told Belgians. “We should not let ourselves be divided.” His appeal came after talks with regional leaders, who so often bicker and stall and leave rudderless a nation with a federal and three regional governments which are responsible for an area barely 185 miles at its widest reach. After protracted dis- agreements between the linguistic groups that left Belgium without a fully functioning government for nearly 500 days until De Croo became prime min- ister of a 7-party coalition one month ago and now, it was time to stand together. “The only battle we have to fight is with the virus, which knows no bounds of language or color, age or gender,” De Croo said. This week, news struck that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control had recorded Bel- gium — shoehorned in between Germany, France Francisco Seco/Associated Press, File In this Oct. 21, 2020, photo, medical staff work in the inten- sive care ward for COVID-19 patients at the CHR Citadelle hospital in Liege, Belgium. Small, yet so divided, Belgium is hit hard again by the pandemic, and now has some of the worst results to show in Europe during the resurgence of the Coronavirus, it is revealed Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. and the Netherlands — as having the highest 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 citizens, just sur- passing the Czech Republic. On Wednesday, the top two reversed roles again with the Czechs standing at 1,448.7 compared to Bel- gium’s 1,424.2 in a stand- ings nobody wants to lead. Both far outstrip even hot- beds like France or Spain. In all in Belgium, 11,038 people have died so far in the pandemic. All this in a wealthy nation of 11.5 million people where no fewer than nine ministers — national and regional — have a say on health issues. The dictum “less is more” never reached the Belgian high echelons of power. “A great many politi- cians can claim power but, in the end, no one is ever responsible,” historian and former member of the Euro- pean Parliament Luckas Vander Taelen said. He called Belgium’s system of multiple layers of govern- ment to serve the 6.5 mil- lion Dutch-speaking Flem- ings in the north and the 5 million Francophones “institutional lasagna.” The pandemic finds in Belgium one of the most densely populated coun- tries in Europe, a cross- road of international trade. Its capital, Brussels, hosts the headquarters of the 27-nation European Union with its steady stream of international visitors. But Belgium’s political makeup, with its multiple regional authorities, also creates a kaleidoscope of dif- ferent government health measures. Throughout the crisis, the Belgian population was unified in one thing: The general sense of bewil- derment about the ever- changing rules imposed by the different layers of gov- ernment and a growing confusion caused by clumsy communication. For someone living near Brus- sels, a bar closing hour or a maximum cap on attending a funeral might face dif- ferent rules within just 12 miles. Late Tuesday, the regional government of Flanders finally considered adapting its coronavirus curfew to match that of the Francophone region and Brussels, but then thought better of it. While it stays at midnight in the north of the country, it is at 10 p.m. in other areas, compli- cating life for everyone who travels from one region to the other. Underscoring the threat, authorities said on Tuesday, 689 people were rushed to the hospital with COVID- 19, 60 more than the record during the March peak. “And admissions con- tinue to rise,” said crisis center virologist Steven Van Gucht. He added that ICU admissions are doubling every eight days and, if it continued unabated, would reach the saturation level of 2,000 patients around Nov. 6. Even during the health crisis, linguistic strife has raised its head, some- thing which has never been fully contained during almost two centuries and two World Wars, when the whole nation faced one common enemy. Christoph D’Haese, the mayor of Aalst in Flanders, recently said he would no longer accept patients from Brussels, Belgium’s largely francophone capital. “Medical solidarity has limits and borders,” he said. Hospital authori- ties disagreed and insisted that the essence of medical solidarity was the lack of borders. When the Brussels UZ hospital, with Flemish roots, warned that the cap- ital needed to take tougher action to contain the crisis, the Francophone Brus- sels Health Minister Alain Maron sniped back that “when a Flemish hospital in Brussels raises a problem, it is a major issue, and when six of 14 hospitals in (Flemish) Antwerp are in the same situation, nobody talks about it.” As Belgium hobbled through the first wave of the pandemic without a fully functioning govern- ment, one of the last mea- sures De Croo’s predecessor took in September was to relax restrictions — against the advice of many medical experts. Vo Van Dung/VNA via AP Broken tree branches caused by strong winds from ty- phoon Molave lie on a deserted street Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, in Da Nang, Vietnam. At least 2 dead, 26 missing as storm hits Vietnam By Has Dinh Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam — Typhoon Molave slammed into Vietnam with destructive force Wednesday, Oct. 28, killing at least two people and sinking two fishing boats with 26 crew mem- bers in what was feared to be the most powerful storm to hit the country in 20 years. Winds of up to 93 mph killed a man by knocking him off his roof as he was trying to reinforce it in south-central Quang Ngai province. Another man was pinned to death by a fallen tree in the coastal province, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. The navy deployed two rescue boats to search for the 26 fishermen off Binh Dinh province, according to state-run VTV network. It was not clear if anyone was saved in the storm- tossed waters. TV footage showed ferocious wind rattling roofs and toppling trees in Quang Ngai. In the nearby coastal province of Phu Yen, key roads were lit- tered by fallen electric posts, trees and billboards, and the wind ripped off roofs from many houses and ravaged fish farms. At least 40,000 people were evacuated to emer- gency shelters far- ther inland from coastal villages. VTV showed displaced villagers huddled in class- rooms that were con- verted into an evacuation center, where they spent the night. Provincial authorities shut down offices, fac- tories and schools and asked people to remain indoors to prevent casu- alties. Vietnam is still recovering from severe flooding and landslides that killed 136 people and left dozens missing in three provinces. 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