Concern became fear, fear became hysteria. Shops were emptied, people started wearing ridiculous improvised (swimming) masks to protect themselves, toilet paper was lacking because of panic buying… Nobody was allowed on the roads unless it was to buy essentials or unless you were an essential worker. Because I was working in an emergency department at that time, I had the luxury of being able to drive a bit. On this black and white picture, you can see the E411 motorway towards Brussels, taken just after lockdown was ordered. Normally, heavy traffic jams paralyze this axis into the capital city. suddenly, the road was empty.

As the youngest doctor of the hospital, I had to examine and triage the suspected patients. Indeed, it was (rightfully) believed that age was a risk factor for severe COVID19 pneumonia so the older colleagues avoided these patients like the plague. Fear for the disease was even higher amongst civilians. People were still terrified of catching the virus by merely walking in the streets. I reckoned however that if I was going to get infected, it would be in the hospital and not in an empty street, so I enjoyed stretching my legs outside. This resulted in this interesting picture of a famous touristic hotspot in Brussels, suddenly almost empty.