The start of the 5th wave of Covid is “dazzling” in France, Attal alert – The HuffPost

Gonzalo Fuentes via Reuters

CORONAVIRUS – Faced with the rise of the epidemic in Europe and France, Gabriel Attal takes up shocking formulas to alert the French and try to make an impression. After speaking of a “stratospheric” rise or a “viral tsunami” during the previous wave in July, the government spokesman spoke, this Sunday, November 21 during the “Grand Rendez-vous” on Europe 1/ Les Echos / Cnews, of a “5th wave which starts in a dazzling way”.

A lexicon supported by the deterioration of epidemic monitoring figures for several days. “We have an increase in cases of almost 80% in one week with 17,000 daily cases”, he replied, after a question from journalists on the “concern” of the French in the face of possible reconfinement measures.

On average calculated over 7 days (which gives a more faithful view), the number of daily cases has almost doubled in one week: it was 17,153 this Saturday, November 20, against 9,458 the previous Saturday. This effectively represents an increase of 81%.

“We have elements that can both worry us and at the same time make us confident”, he continued, recalling that “the French have made a vaccinate”But also that France “Is rather ahead” compared to its neighbors on the 3rd dose and the vaccination booster, “Even if it is not yet sufficient” and that several epidemiologists and hospital managers call for it to be extended more quickly to all adults.

Reinforced health pass controls

Gabriel Attal also praised “the impact of health pass”, Dismissing once again the partial confinement of the unvaccinated, and specifying that the latter’s control at the entrance to closed public places has been strengthened in recent days, since Emmanuel Macron’s speech. “This pass must absolutely be respected”, he insisted.

“In recent weeks, we had had a number of reports on a reduction in the number of controls and on a certain relaxation in certain establishments open to the public”, he declared, before specifying: “Over the first four days this week, there were nearly 70,000 checks of people, and more than 4,300 checks of establishments open to the public. This is an increase of 102% compared to the checks that there had been the first four days of the previous week ”.

An incidence rate above 200 “in the coming days”

However, the government spokesman clarified that “given the rapidity of the increase in the incidence rate, we will probably be at 200 incidence rate in the coming days”. A threshold used by the government last winter to set a number of restrictive measures (curfew lowered to 6 p.m., gauges, etc.) but which, with the vaccination and the drop in the screening rate, is now considered by the executive as “less central” in the management of the health crisis, unlike the rate of hospitalizations.

On Saturday, 7,974 Covid patients were hospitalized in France, including 1,333 in critical care services (the most serious cases), against 6,500 and 1,000 respectively a month earlier.

However, the government has chosen this threshold of 200 as a condition for the imposition of the health pass in Ski stations for this 2021-2022 season. “You can see that today we are at 164, so we will probably be there”, suggesting that the pass would be inevitable for skiing in the resort in the coming days.

Gabriel Attal also indicated that a Sanitary Defense Council would be held at the top of the state next week.

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