Maintaining social bubbles of up to five people is more of a general idea to keep in mind than a fixed rule to follow, Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès said on Monday.
The five-person social bubble, one of the many measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19, has faced criticism, including from infectious disease expert Jean-Luc Gala, who said the rule is “not applied, not controllable, not controlled.”
More than 70% of the population has admitted to not respecting coronavirus measures, according to the RTBF, “starting with the social bubble of close contact with a maximum of 5 people.”
The core message of the five-person social bubble, however, is to limit your contacts and keep your distance between your contacts, Wilmès said.
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Keeping a distance is “not simple, we are human beings who need to get closer to each other, to touch each other,” Wilmès said. Hence the exception for five people, as a guideline.
“It’s not a question of seeing only five people in all and for everything until the end of September,” the RTBF reported.
The rule has “its qualities and its defects,” Wilmès said, but it will be particularly important with people returning from holidays and going back to school.
“What must predominate is the understanding that this virus is transmitted when you are close to someone, that you do not protect them and that it does not protect you,” she said, stressing the importance of what she calls risk management over crisis management.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
