According to the Guardian page, eight more people died at the Hemelrijck nursing home in Mol, Belgium after a visit by a Santa Claus in early December. Previously, on December 26, the Daily Mail page reported that 18 people died at the nursing home. Thus, up to the present time, at least 26 people have died from the super infectious Santa Claus.
The incident happened on December 5, the person playing Santa Claus was invited to Hemelrijck – where about 150 elderly people live – to participate in the Christmas celebration. At that time, Santa Claus revealed that he was completely healthy and did not have any symptoms of infection.
However, 3 days later, Santa Claus suddenly fell ill and received a positive result for SARS-CoV-2. Members of the nursing home also later developed Covid-19 symptoms. The health department quickly conducted large-scale testing at the Hemelrijck nursing home. Currently, 85 elderly people along with 40 staff test positive for Covid-19 causing virus.
According to the management of the Hemelrijck Institute, Santa Claus does not go to all rooms, but only to the common area and the reception hall. He also maintains a safe distance from the elderly in the hospital, only staying in each area for a few minutes. The staff initially confirmed that the man was wearing a mask and complied with epidemic prevention regulations, but photos of the event showed that this was not true.
The images show that not all residents are wearing masks and that Santa Claus is in close contact with members of the nursing home. The authorities say that the nursing home has acted irresponsibly and carelessly with dire consequences.
Belgium is one of the countries with the highest death rate from Covid-19 in the world, of which 11,066 people die from disease, more than half of them are in nursing homes.