Covid-19: the virus is regaining ground, our map of France by department

Barely a week has passed since the end of the mandatory mask in closed places. And the epidemiological indicators are already racing. Contaminations with the Covid-19 virus jumped 36% in seven days nationwide. The incidence rate is moving further and further away from the target set “between 300 and 500” maximum by the Minister of Solidarity and Health Olivier Véran. According to Public Health France, between March 12 and 18, the indicator rose to 897.6 new positive cases for Sars-CoV-2 per 100,000 inhabitants. The incidence rate was already in the red seven days earlier with 659.4 contaminations per 100,000.

A sign that the fifth wave is playing overtime after a month of decline, the reproduction rate stands at 1.1. This indicator, also called effective R, measures the number of people that an individual infected with Sars-CoV-2 can infect. When it is lower than 1, the epidemic slows down. But when it exceeds 1, then the virus regains ground. It is therefore not surprising to see contaminations increasing again. But as with every epidemic rebound, the departments are not all equal. In Brittany or in the Grand Est, we have already passed the milestone of 1,000 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

1,527.7 new cases per 100,000 in Finistère, 1,450.1 in Côtes d’Armor, but also 1,438.6 in the Ardennes and 1,372.7 in Bas-Rhin. Despite the high vaccination coverage (79.5%) and the immunity acquired by the strong Omicron wave this winter, Public Health France stresses that all age groups are affected by the rebound of the epidemic. Among 70-79 year olds, the incidence rate jumped 35% between the first two weeks of March, rising from 387 to 523 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. More or less similar trend among 60-69 year olds with 497 new cases per 100,000 the week of March 7 to 13, or + 29.4% compared to the previous week. +29.5% among 50-59 year olds (632/100,000), +30.5% among 40-49 year olds (795/100,000), but also +22.6% among 30-39 year olds (895/ 100,000).

What’s more, hospitalizations have also started to rise again in recent days. A logical consequence of the rebound in contamination. According to Public Health France, as of March 21, 20,706 people are in hospital with a positive test for Sars-CoV-2. Among them, 1,632 patients are in critical care, a number that seems to be stagnating. In its latest models updated on March 21, the Institut Pasteur anticipates an increase in new hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the days to come. After a slight stabilization phase, new intensive care admissions should increase again.

Despite all the epidemiological indicators which are blushing day by day, the government remains entrenched in its positions. No question for Olivier Véran to go back on the end of the wearing of the mask or the vaccine pass. “If we had kept the measures, some would have denounced an electoral maneuver to maintain a level of fear supposedly useful to the president. When we raise them, the same people tell us that it’s electoral…”, he defended himself on Sunday March 20 in the columns of the Parisian. Election or not, the government’s health policy does not please the World Health Organization (WHO), which deplored, on Tuesday March 22, the decision of several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, the Germany and France, to lift their anti-Covid measures too “brutally”.

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