Belgium's response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Luyten, Jeroen; Schokkaert, Erik

doi:10.1017/s1744133121000232

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Policymakers failed to act adequately due to the complex political situation in Belgium without a strong centralized command from the government (Luyten and Schokkaert 2022 ). There are two reasons (Luyten and Schokkaert 2022 ). In the first wave, care home protection was not given sufficient priority.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 policy analysis for 10 European countries

Takefuji

2022

J Public Health (Berl.)

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Aim The goal of this paper is to analyze the COVID-19 policies of 10 European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hungary, with a time-series policy analysis tool. Subject and methods The results of the COVID-19 policy analysis are based on a single time-series indicator, or daily population mortality rate: the number of COVID-19 daily cumulative deaths divided by the population in millions. The lower the score, the better the policy. Although many experts believe that the COVID-19 policy outcome analysis is premature, time series analysis is an excellent analysis that can provide information on the progress and transition of policy outcomes. In other words, the proposed time series analysis tool allows policymakers to identify and quantify when mistakes were made during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Results The COVID-19 policy analysis discovered many useful facts. Sweden failed due to the herd immunity approach. Hungary made a fundamental mistake in COVID-19 tactics. Countries such as Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, and Poland showed time-series changes that differed from the others. Conclusion Public health interventions can play a key role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed policy analysis tool, hiscovid demonstrated the effectiveness of the time-series score behavior for discovering when policymakers made mistakes.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 policy analysis for 10 European countries

Takefuji

2022

J Public Health (Berl.)

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“…Indeed, as of June 2019, Belgian had both the highest case-fatality ratio and mortality rate per 100,000 people in the world ( Desson et al, 2020 ). While no literature has been found related specifically to local administration responses to COVID-19, due to the impact that the health crisis had on the country, the effects of COVID-19 in Belgium have been widely studied across other domains (see, e.g., Dellicour et al, 2021 ; Luyten & Schokkaert, 2021 ; Sannigrahi et al, 2020 ). Moreover, we chose Wallonia within Belgium due to the particular emphasis the region has placed on local strategies, such as the recovery strategies linked to the changes required alongside the industrial transition ( Esposito et al, 2021 ) or the “transversal strategic program” ( programme stratégique transversal, PST in French) for local municipal management ( Fallon et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As we have a particular interest in better understanding the resilience strategies during the first wave of Covid-19, we chose Belgium as the empirical setting for our study. Belgium is an appropriate setting due to the sharp effects that Covid-19 had on the country, which demanded action from both federal and local governments (Luyten & Schokkaert, 2021). Indeed, as of June 2019, Belgian had both the highest case-fatality ration and mortality rate per 100,000 people in the world (Desson et al, 2020).…”

Section: Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

Municipal Pathways in Response to COVID-19: A Strategic Management Perspective on Local Public Administration Resilience

Clément

Esposito

Crutzen

2022

Administration & Society

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This paper aims to understand the different resilience pathways local governments may take during moments of crisis, specifically focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Through survey responses from local administrations in Wallonia, Belgium, we consider how varied contexts led to different strategic resilience pathways. These pathways range from static (i.e., no strategy) to innovative change. Our findings highlight that digital technology solutions may play a role in supporting resilience across the different pathways. Therefore, we adapt strategic public management literature to suggest propositions for future research to test the specific role that digital technologies play in supporting resilience within local administrations.

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“…Belgium was one of the countries worst affected by the COVID-19 epidemic in Europe during the first wave with a monthly excess mortality rate of more than 50%. The Brussels-Capital Region was particularly impacted, with an excess mortality rate of 81.7% (and 123% during the first wave), more than two times as high as the other two regions of Belgium 9…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinct socioeconomic profile of patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and prepandemic respiratory infections in Brussels’s deprived areas: a case–control study

et al. 2023

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ObjectiveBelgium has been hit harder by COVID-19 than other countries in Europe. While clinical risk factors are well studied, socioeconomic risk factors remained underexplored. This study’s objective was to analyse the social and clinical profile of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 during the two waves of 2020, compared with a control population in 2019 in two hospitals located in Brussels’ most deprived area.Design and methodsWe did a case–control study by using the minimal clinical data set in two Brussels hospitals. All patients hospitalised for COVID-19 in 2020, divided into two waves (n=3220), were compared with all patients hospitalised for viral pneumonia and respiratory diseases in 2019 (control population n=2950). Multinomial regression models were used to estimate the relative risk ratios of the association between the COVID-19 hospitalised populations (waves 1 and 2) and risk factors (social and clinical) stratified by age.ResultsPatients under 65 years of age and hospitalised for COVID-19 presented significantly higher rates (relative rate ratio (95% CI)), especially for the first wave, of obesity 1.6 (1.2–2.2), African nationalities 1.4 (1.0–1.8), lack of health insurance 1.6 (1.3–2.1), living in high-density population areas 1.6 (1.3–2.1) and low incomes 1.7 (1.4–2.1), compared with the control population For patients over 65 years of age, we did not observe significant excess of COVID-19 hospitalisations for any risk factors, except diabetes during for the second wave but we have a significant excess mortality rate than the control population for both waves (p<0.002).ConclusionsThe social and clinical profile of patients hospitalised for COVID-19 compared with a population hospitalised for viral respiratory diseases differed between age groups and waves. For younger patients, risk factors were linked to patients’ precarious situations. This study underlines the role of selected social health determinants and the importance of routinely collecting social data, along with clinical data, particularly among vulnerable populations.

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Belgium's response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 14 publications

References 12 publications

COVID-19 policy analysis for 10 European countries

COVID-19 policy analysis for 10 European countries

Municipal Pathways in Response to COVID-19: A Strategic Management Perspective on Local Public Administration Resilience

Distinct socioeconomic profile of patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and prepandemic respiratory infections in Brussels’s deprived areas: a case–control study

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