With an incidence rate on the rise of 315 new cases of Covid per 100,000 inhabitants, Moselle is far from being out of the woods. “The situation remains serious but there is no explosion and we do not envisage, for the moment, new measures. The effort must continue until the vaccination allows us to release the pressure. This is the message delivered Tuesday February 23 by the prefect of Moselle, Laurent Touvet.
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Mass tests
66,000 tests have just been performed in one week in Moselle. Or a little over 6% of the population. “We are among the departments that test the most. This makes it possible to isolate as quickly as possible to avoid propagation, ”the Prefect welcomes. This mass testing explains, for him, the high incidence rate, which rose in one week from 270 to 315 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in our department. The national average is 201 and that of the Grand Est is 184. But Laurent Touvet is more concerned with looking at the positivity rate of 4.9 new cases out of 100 people tested. This is much less than the national average (6.4) and better than in Haute-Marne (6.6), Aube (6) or Marne (5.2).
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Variants have taken over
The original strain of the coronavirus, which came from China, only represents 20% of cases in Moselle. The English variant is 25% and the South African / Brazilian 55%. “Scientific knowledge evolves every week but, for the time being, it appears less contagious than what one might fear”, specifies the prefect.
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Hospitals not saturated
“There is no critical saturation of hospitals. There has been a stability of hospitalizations around 500 since November, including 80 to 90 in intensive care, ”describes Laurent Touvet. “The occupancy rate of intensive care beds is 87%”, specifies Lamia Himer, the regional representative of the regional health agency. “We came very close to saturation. We favored the transfer of patients when new beds were opened. Eight were taken in charge by Meurthe-et-Moselle. Today the situation has eased. We have 17 critical care beds available, which is good, ”adds Marie-Odile Saillard, director of CHR Metz-Thionville.
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Vaccines: soon 17 centers
Endowed with ten hospitals since the start of the vaccination campaign, Moselle will have seven more at the end of the week thanks to the opening of municipal centers. This will allow him to absorb the 30,000 additional doses sent by the government. Two more have already opened in Metz, one in Freyming-Merlebach and one in Dieuze on Tuesday morning. Three others will open Thursday and Friday in Montigny-lès-Metz, Thionville and Bitche. In addition, an ephemeral communal center could open just this weekend in Metz to carry out the vaccination “of 1,000 to 2,000 people. “
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58 000 injections
To date, 58,000 injections have been performed: 44,500 first doses and 13,500 second doses. Out of a million inhabitants, including 100,000 over 75, this is still not much. “The provision of additional vaccines will not translate into one day,” concludes the prefect.
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