An improvement that is far from being a way out of the crisis. The flu epidemic has slowed in recent days, remaining at a “high level”, while, in babies, that of bronchiolitis continues but with hospitalizations still falling, summarized Public Health France on Wednesday.
Last week was marked by a “slowdown in the circulation of influenza viruses but holding at a high level,” the agency noted in its weekly report. The flu epidemic, which currently affects all regions of mainland France and most of the overseas territories, has come early this year.
triple epidemic
“Influenza indicators fell in medicine and city emergencies, but hospitalizations and deaths continued to rise, particularly among people over 65,” Public Health France also notes.
Thus, the number of visits to the emergency room for flu or flu syndrome has decreased by 27% compared to the previous week. Among those over 65, however, it increased by 10% and the number of hospitalizations after the passage rose by 18%.
The organization also warns that if “the end-of-year holidays generally favor a decrease in the circulation of the flu”, a rebound can be observed after the start of the school year.
The bronchiolitis epidemic continued in mainland France, as well as in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, and Mayotte. But the agency noted a “decrease in emergency visits and hospitalizations after emergency visits among children under 2 years of age in mainland France for the fourth week in a row.”
There is no immediate relief on the horizon for the health system, therefore, tense for several weeks due to a triple epidemic of Covid-19, bronchiolitis and influenza, which weighs on the emergency services. In Thionville (Moselle), for example, according to union sources, 55 nurses and caregivers out of the 59 who work in the emergency room were fired at the end of last week due to exhaustion.
Source: BFM TV
