The Covid-19 epidemic, which experienced a brief hiatus in France after a wave at the beginning of autumn, is reactivating, the public health agency detailed this Friday, in an already tense context, between bronchiolitis and the arrival from the flu.
“Resumption of circulation” of the virus
Last week was marked by a “resumption of circulation” of the coronavirus and an increase in hospitalizations and intensive care admissions, summarized Public Health France, in its weekly report on the epidemic.
However, it is currently difficult to obtain precise details of the number of cases in France, due to a social movement of biology laboratories. But the national incidence rate for all tests combined appears to be on the rise, as do antigenic tests for all age groups.
Attention to suspected Covid has increased by 6% for young people between the ages of 15 and 44 cared for by SOS Médecins associations. ER visits for suspected Covid have increased by 13% for all ages.
First recovery since summer
This marks the end of a short pause in the epidemic in recent weeks. The last wave had hit the country at the end of the summer, in a context favored by the start of the school year.
The current rebound is already reflected in an “upward recovery in new hospitalizations and intensive care admissions”, after “four weeks of decline”, underlines Public Health France.
Last week, 4,210 people were hospitalized with a Covid diagnosis, an increase of 6%.
The fear of a “tripledemic”
If the total number of hospitalized patients (fewer than 19,000) remains well below the highest levels seen this year, this recovery risks straining an already very difficult health system.
The bronchiolitis epidemic, which mainly affects infants, has reached an unprecedented scale in ten years.
And that of the seasonal flu, although still unreported, promises to be earlier than usual and raises fears of the impact of a “tripledemia.”
The vaccination reminder is still relevant
In this context, while recalling the importance of barrier gestures such as wearing a mask in closed and crowded places, Public Health France encourages the French to update their anti-Covid vaccination.
This provides, since the beginning of October, a booster dose for people at risk, which include in particular everyone over 60 years of age.
Among those aged 60 to 79, only 31.2% consider themselves protected by vaccination, compared with just 12% among those 80 and older, according to data from the health agency as of November 21.
Source: BFM TV
