Covid-19: in the middle of summer, France fears the great fire of the Delta variant

Published on : 07/24/2021 – 07:47

Health pass extended by law, vaccination with a vengeance, reminder of barrier gestures: this summer, France wants to do everything to slow the explosion of cases of Covid-19 due to the Delta variant. The adoption of such measures is “urgent”, according to Jean-François Delfraissy, the president of the Scientific Council which guides the government. “The return to normal is not now, it may be 2022 (or) 2023” only, he said Friday July 23 on BFMTV.

Around 4,500 on July 9, 10,900 on July 16, nearly 21,500 on Friday: the number of daily cases almost doubles from one week to another because of the Delta variant (called “Indian”), which is very contagious. “We will arrive at 50,000 cases probably at the beginning of August,” warned Professor Delfraissy.

“For the first time in 15 weeks”, the increase in cases is accompanied “by a net increase in the hospitalization rate (+ 55%) and the number of patients admitted to critical care services (+ 35%)” , alert on Friday the health agency Public Health France in its weekly update.

In Occitania, new hospitalizations due to Covid-19 have thus tripled in 15 days. “The health impact is now proven,” commented the Regional Health Agency (ARS).

However, it is the risk of saturation of the hospital, and in particular of resuscitation services, which had led the government to impose confinements during previous waves.

This is why it is imperative to “reach as quickly as possible a sufficient level of collective immunity” to “avoid new tensions in hospitals and on the health system”, underlines Public Health France.

>> To read: Covid-19: when vaccination turns into family conflict

“Go back to simple barrier measures”

The first tool for this is vaccination.

After a sleepless night of intense debate, the National Assembly voted on the bill on the controversial extension of the health pass and the vaccination obligation for caregivers. The Senate must now seize it and the government aims for an adoption before the end of the weekend. In addition to the law, the obligation of a health pass for cultural places has already entered into force on Wednesday.

Even before the adoption of these toughening measures, their simple announcement by President Emmanuel Macron on July 12 accelerated the vaccination: 58% of the total population (39 million people) have now received at least one dose (and 48% are fully vaccinated), compared to 53% and 40% respectively on July 10.

But vaccination is not everything: in a “context of very broad contamination, we must return to simple barrier measures”, insisted Jean-François Delfraissy. According to him, this could allow “to gain probably 20% in terms of hospitalizations”.

Even “if you are vaccinated and you are in a crowd situation, wear the mask,” he hammered.

This is obviously necessary indoors, in poorly ventilated places, but it is also, according to him, “in areas of the coast where there are a lot of people”.

Clusters in nightclubs

Jean-François Delfraissy also deemed “dangerous” in epidemic terms to frequent nightclubs, reopened with health passes.

In the east, Vosges and Doubs, two sources of contamination from nightclubs have also been identified with, each time, several dozen people affected, according to local health authorities.

For the week of July 12 to 18, there is “a sharp increase in the number of cases having attended meeting places, especially bars, where barrier measures are more difficult to maintain,” notes Public Health France. The bill provides for the extension of the health pass to coffee shops in early August.

Despite this clear deterioration, the government’s measures and its eagerness to implement them provoke strong reluctance in the opposition, and frank hostility among a small fringe of the population.

The Republican deputies, who mostly abstained on the vote, warned against the desire to put the “country under a bell” and regretted that the debates did not allow “to remove the ambiguities” on a health pass comparable to “a daily passport”, according to one of them, Philippe Gosselin.

The PS, rebellious France and the PC voted against the text, adopted in the National Assembly by 117 votes for and 86 against.

In addition, new demonstrations against the health pass are planned, Saturday, July 24, in Paris and in several cities in France.

With AFP