A change of focus. The Health Ministry announced several relief measures in relation to Covid on Saturday, including an end to mandatory isolation for people who have tested positive, although it remains recommended. These announcements, which go into effect on February 1, mark the end of the “test, trace, isolate” strategy, while contamination is on the decline.
Among the planned developments, the ministry indicates that people who test positive for Covid-19 will no longer need to self-isolate and asymptomatic contact cases will no longer need to be tested.
The Health Insurance “Covid Contact” file will also end on January 31st. This service, known as “contact tracing”, made it possible to identify positive cases and contact cases in Covid.
“We were waiting for this”
Announcements well received by these Parisians. “It’s a good thing because I think we were just waiting for that,” a resident gloated into the BFMTV microphone. “A return to normality, yes, but at the same time we continue to take precautions,” said another, cautious.
“The majority of the population is now a little more autonomous compared to (the recommendations linked to Covid, editor’s note) and wears a mask in transport,” says a young man.
A decrease in pollution.
The government justifies the announced reduction in health regulations due to the drop in the numbers of Covid infections.
“Whether in mainland France or abroad, we have fallen below the alert threshold of 54 cases per 100,000 inhabitants”, underlines our health journalist Caroline Dieudonné.
“Perhaps it is less the consequence of a drop in pollution than of its effects, which are clearly attenuated,” estimates Jean-Pierre Thierry, BFMTV health consultant, who recalls that we currently do tests “much less.”
“A good level of herd immunity”
The end of the “test, trace, isolate” strategy is welcomed by some clinicians who believe it no longer fits the current situation.
“The objective is no longer to interrupt the circulation (of the virus). (…) We must now let it circulate in a population that has a good level of herd immunity,” epidemiologist Yves Buisson, also president of the Covid cell, estimates with BFMTV -19 at the national academy of medicine.
For the doctor, the main thing now is to “insist on the vaccination of people at risk.”
The number of contaminations has decreased in a month, from more than 20,000 to less than 5,000 per day on average, according to the Covid Tracker site.
Source: BFM TV
