Visit of Covid-infected Santa Claus to care for a nursing home in Belgium kills 18 residents after 121 fell ill in an outbreak
- Santa Claus was received in a home for 150 residents in the city of Mol, Antwerp
- Three days after his test was positive for Covid-19, which raised fears in the nursing home
- They say that Santa Claus is full of remorse, the mayor calls home ‘totally irresponsible’
About 18 household residents died of coronavirus after an infected Santa Claus came to visit Belgium.
Sinterklaas and his black-faced helpers, known as Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’), infected 121 residents and 36 staff at the Hemelrijck health care facility in Mol, Antwerp, earlier this month.
Photos of the man dressed as Saint Nicholas appeared two weeks ago and the ‘over-spreading’ has been blamed for the increase in the death toll in the house since then.
Five more elderly residents died on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and at least one was treated with oxygen.
Father Christmas fell ill and tested positive for Covid-19 three days after the visit, prompting health officials to start testing at home.
The volunteer dressed as Sinterklaas was welcomed to spread the joy of Christmas among the 150 residents of the Hemelrijck nursing home in Mol, Antwerp (pictured: residents enjoying mulled wine and oranges while Santa Claus and his helpers from Zwarte Piet (‘Pete Negro ‘) visit the house)
The house claimed that social detachment was observed, but the Sinterklaas were photographed standing very close to elderly residents
Santa Claus and his helpers talk to the asylum residents. His helpers are black-faced and dressed as Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’), a controversial traditional character in the Netherlands and parts of Belgium
The mayor of Mol Wim Caeyers told local media: ‘We are waiting until ten difficult days. It was a very dark day for the asylum.
‘It is a great mental strain to support the man who played São Nicolau, as well as for the organizers and the team.’
But photos from the event showed that not all residents wore masks and that Santa Claus and his helpers were two meters from the elderly.
Mr Caeyers said: ‘Initially [the care home] he said the rules were followed, but right away you get pictures of the families of the residents where you can see that this was not the case. ‘
His administration called the asylum ‘a totally irresponsible organization’.
The mayor said “everything will be done” to control the virus, with the help of local health professionals, the Red Cross and the governor of Antwerp, after negotiations on the crisis on Sunday.
A spokesman for Armonea, the company that runs the house, said: ‘The team is very shocked by what happened, but it also makes them very motivated to remove the virus again.’
One of Belgium’s leading virologists, however, expressed his doubts that the volunteer Santa Claus could have caused so many infections.
Marc Van Ranst, from KU Leuven University, said: ‘Even for a super spreader, these are a lot of infections at the same time.’
Father Christmas talks to an elderly resident. He and his assistant seem to be less than two meters away from her
Hemelrijck nursing home in Mol, Antwerp, managed by the company Armonea
In the past few days, Belgium has seen an increase in the number of daily infections, 2,762 on Saturday and another 4,978 on Sunday.
He believes that poor ventilation is the most likely cause and that CO2 measurements should be made by local health authorities.
However, he added that Santa Claus’ visit during the pandemic was a ‘stupid idea’.
Belgium has the worst coronavirus deaths per million of its population in the world.
The country registered 2,342 new cases of coronavirus on Christmas Day, with 51 dying in the