Is the hospital under pressure again? The bronchiolitis epidemic started this year, like last year, early. If for the moment it is impossible to predict its evolution, “Impact on pediatric services is expected”Public Health France warned on Friday 14 October.
>> Bronchiolitis epidemic: “We cannot open more beds”, because “there is not enough nursing staff”, alarms a pediatrician
An epidemic of this respiratory disease, which affects children and can sometimes lead them to hospital, is underway in four French regions (Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France, Occitanie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and appears on the horizon in ten others (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Brittany, Center-Val de Loire, Grand-East, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Pays de la Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur)health authorities said Wednesday.
“What we are currently witnessing is clearly an increase in epidemiological indicators, an increase in hospitalizations”, alerted Sophie Vaux, of Public Health France. For the future“We will remain very cautious due to the circulation of Covid-19 and potential competition” of the two viruses, he added.
On the ground, caregivers deliver a similar speech, in a persistent context of staff shortages. “I wouldn’t say we’re collapsing right now, but we feel it’s starting to rise”Noëlla Manquin, a nurse for children at the Parisian hospital Robert-Debré, testified to AFP. “We have children who arrive and who are [dans un état] much more serious than a week ago: we will keep them much longer in the emergency room “detailed. “They too are getting smaller and smaller: it ranges from a few days to two or three months”.
Normally, the bronchiolitis outbreak follows the same seasonal pattern from year to year. It begins between late October and mid-November, peaks in December, ends in late January or even late February. But this temporality has been affected by Covid-19, in many countries.
