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Covid-19: the eighth wave is looming in France, in relative indifference
Contaminations have been going up since the start of the school year… in relative indifference. The impact of this new wave remains difficult to predict.
Ouest France
Philippe Richard .
Modified09/20/2022 at 6:50 p.m.
Published on09/20/2022 at 6:25 p.m.
Eighth wave or rebound? Monday, the Minister of Health François Braun assured France Inter : “It is too early to say that this is the start of the eighth wave”. However, in the absence of braking measures, there is no reason for the increase in contamination to fade quickly, as the fall begins.
What can we anticipate from the impact of this wave? “An epidemic wave is not modeled like the climate, underlines Pascal Crépey, biostatistician at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health in Rennes. A boat caught in a storm will know the intensity of what it will undergo. In epidemiology, the intensity depends on the behavior of the boat, in this case the capacity of the population to implement barrier gestures. »
An unpredictable profile
Due to the number of factors involved - in particular the degree of immunity of the population and protection against serious forms - the epidemiologists of the Institut Pasteur had the greatest difficulty in modeling the 7th summer wave. The exercise will not be easier this time.
For the epidemiologist, we can expect “a measured increase until mid-October, a stabilization during the All Saints holidays and then a sharp increase. But there are a lot of unknowns. »
A new variant?
Especially since if the BA.5 variant, that of the 7th wave, is omnipresent, other "boys" of Omicron could add unpredictability, like this BA.2.75, on the way to becoming the majority in India and which nibbles percentages in France.
“At the hospital, we have not yet had a resurgence, recognizes Professor Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectiology department at Tenon hospital (Paris). The gray area concerns people at risk of a serious form. A third of those aged 60-79 had two booster doses, half of those over 80. »
The doctor has two other concerns: “ The conjunction with the flu, after a year without flu and a weak epidemic in 2021 . And especially the state in which the hospital is. The emergencies held up this summer, but in my hospital, we have 12% of beds closed due to lack of staff. »
No stopping before the line
How to explain the apparent indifference of the population and the authorities at the dawn of this eighth wave?
"Me, I don't get used to the death toll. 147 in the week is 147 too many . There is a populist drift in health measures, believes Gilles Pialoux. People want to hear it's over, but it's not true. I like the expression that the boss of the WHO had a few days ago: A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line is in sight. »
“ We know that binding measures have an expiry date, considers Pascal Crépey. They wear out over time. Taking action too early would result in public misunderstanding. It is important to keep cartridges. »
Can we expect a spontaneous return to more barrier gestures? “A large part of the population has confused the end of the state of health emergency with the end of the need for barrier gestures,” said Gilles Pialoux. If everyone had stopped wearing condoms when AIDS became a lesser threat... There is no need for an obligation to maintain individual preventive measures.”
https://www.ouest-france.fr/sante/v...e-remous-68c6818e-38e9-11ed-bf0e-79042fcc07f9