At the top of the State and in the regions, two strategies overlap in the face of the rise of the Delta variant in France. At the national level, at the 13 Hours of TF1 Wednesday July 21, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, assumes to bet everything on the acceleration of vaccination, with the objective of 50 million first-time vaccinated by the end of August and extension of the health pass for many social activities. At the same time, in several tourist departments where the epidemic is on the rise, the prefects have been asked to take vigorous measures to curb the epidemic.
After the Pyrénées-Orientales, Haute-Corse or even Hérault, it is the turn of the Var, this Thursday. Serge Jacob, the secretary general of the prefecture, announced the return to wearing masks outdoors in 58 municipalities, including Toulon, Hyères and Saint-Tropez. The decision takes effect this Friday and until Monday August 2 at least. The incidence rate has more than doubled in one week in the department, going from 41 to 102 per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of hospitalizations is also increasing slightly.
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Return to respecting barrier gestures
“This is a delicate signal for holidaymakers who risk not coming, but priority to health. In the city, many people already wore the mask outdoors. While some are slacking off, it is a way of remembering the importance of barrier gestures, ”comments Jean-Pierre Giran, Mayor Hyères, a town on the Côte d’Azur where the population doubles in summer.
Jean-François Delfraissy, the president of the scientific council, the body responsible for enlightening the government on the health crisis, is on the same line. He lamented in front of the Senate, this Thursday, that the barrier gestures (hand washing, distance, ventilation…) have “totally exploded”. He even positioned himself for wearing a mask in the open air because, “with this variant, you can clearly get infected outside”.
In the Landes, the prefecture maintains health restrictions until August 4. Here too, the incidence rate has more than doubled in one week, from 44 to 124 per 100,000 inhabitants. This department, where the Delta variant emerged in France, has not yet lifted the latest national containment restrictions, unlike the rest of France, which did so on June 30. Gatherings in public spaces therefore remain limited to 20 people and the gauge in establishments open to the public to less than 5,000 seated people. As for wearing a mask, it is still the order of the day in the densest areas of tourist communities, including Mont-de-Marsan, Dax and several coastal resorts.
A race against time
For Catherine Hill, epidemiologist at the Gustave-Roussy Institute in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne), however, these local measures have no “particular meaning” in the fight against the virus. “When the epidemic heats up somewhere, it heats up everywhere. During the second wave in October-November, the departments classified orange quickly turned red. If barrier measures such as wearing a mask outdoors managed to control an epidemic wave, it would have been observed at that time. However, this is not enough, especially in the face of a very contagious variant. “
The specialist believes that a more effective measure would be to massively test around each case to isolate asymptomatic people very early, as in Australia, China or South Korea. “The French government prefers to wait until enough people are vaccinated. It is a race against time between vaccination and the circulation of the virus. We can see that the wave of contaminations mainly affects the unvaccinated. The whole stake, in this strategy of “living with the virus”, is to know if the Delta variant will not take us up speed. And in what proportions the contaminations will result in an increase in hospitalizations and serious cases.
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