Brussels hotels prepared to accommodate people that are quarantining
The hotel industry in Brussels is enthusiastic about a proposal made by the Professor of General Practice Medicine Jan De Maeseneer. Professor De Maeseneer suggested allowing people that have tested positive for coronavirus to quarantine in vacant hotel rooms. This would help prevent them from infecting other family members.
During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Belgium in the spring, some people that had tested positive but were unable to self-isolate effectively at home were put up in hotel rooms. Yves Fonck of the Association of Brussels Hotels says that it would be a good idea for the practice to be repeated now.
Mr Fonck told VRT News that "We are a candidate to do this as we as a sector have suffered greatly from the pandemic. Annual losses in turnover exceed 80%. We would like to do this as it would allow us to make good some of our fixed costs. It is not profitable, but it would bring in some cash, cash that we need to enable us to pay certain bills”.