Visit of Covid-infected Santa to his home in Belgium kills 18 residents after 121 fell ill in outbreak
- Santa Claus was received at the residence of 150 residents in the city of Mol, Antwerp
- Three days after testing positive for Covid-19, it caused fears in the residence
- Santa is said to be full of remorse and the mayor calls the house “totally irresponsible”
Some 18 residents of the care home have now died of coronavirus after an infected Santa came to visit Belgium.
Sinterklaas and his black-faced helpers known as Zwarte Piet (“Black Pete”) infected 121 residents and 36 employees at the Hemelrijck nursing home in Mol, Antwerp, earlier this month.
The images of the man dressed as St. Nicholas emerged two weeks ago and since then the culprit has been accused of increasing the number of deaths in the house.
Five more neighbors died on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and at least one was treated with oxygen.
Santa fell ill and tested positive for Covid-19 three days after visiting him, prompting health workers to start testing at home.
The volunteer dressed as Sinterklaas was welcomed to spread the Christmas joy among the 150 residents of the Hemelrijck nursing home in Mol, Antwerp (pictured: residents enjoying mulled wine and oranges like Santa and his Zwarte helpers Piet (‘Black Pete’) visit the house)
The house had claimed that social distancing was observed, but the Sinterklaas were represented very close to the large residents.
Santa and his helpers chat with the residents of the nursing home. His assistants are black-faced and dressed as Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’), a controversial traditional character in the Netherlands and parts of Belgium.
Mol Mayor Wim Caeyers told local media: “We are waiting for up to ten difficult days. It has been a very dark day for the care home.
“It’s a great mental strain that has to be endured for the man who played St. Nicholas, as well as for the organizers and staff.”
But images of the event showed that not all residents wore masks and that Santa Claus and his little helpers were within two feet of the elderly.
Caeyers said, “Initially [the care home] he said the rules had been followed, but you will soon receive photos of the families of the residents where you will be able to see that this was not the case.
His administration has called the nursing home “a totally irresponsible organization.”
The mayor said he will be “all on deck” to control the virus, with local health workers, the Red Cross and the Antwerp governor assisting, following the crisis talks on Sunday.
A spokesman for Armonea, the company that manages the house, said: “The team is very shocked by what happened, but that also makes them very motivated to get the virus out again.”
One of the best virologists in Belgium, however, has expressed doubts that the Santa Claus volunteer could have caused so many infections.
Marc Van Ranst, of KU Leuven University, said: “Even for a super-propagator, they are too many infections at once.”
Santa talks to an elderly resident. It seems that he and his assistant are closer to her two meters away
Hemelrijck home care in Mol, Antwerp, which runs the company Armonea
In recent days, Belgium has seen an increase in the number of daily infections, 2,762 on Saturday and 4,978 others on Sunday.
He believes it is much more likely that the cause of poor ventilation is the cause and that local health authorities should take CO2 measures.
Still, he added that visiting Santa Claus 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 deaths due to the virus