10:05 am, June 3, 2021
Warning signs. The Covid-19 epidemic continues to decline in France, especially in hospital services with 2,754 patients in intensive care, according to data from Public Health France published Wednesday evening. However, some territories present opposite situations. At the end of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the government spokesman Gabriel Attal wished to evoke the “warning signs” observed in the South-West, particularly in Occitanie and New Aquitaine. In this region, “sometimes significant increases in the circulation of the virus” were observed, indicates Gabriel Attal.
The dynamic in question
The situation is not catastrophic. According to figures stopped by CovidTracker on Wednesday evening, the R0, or the reproduction rate of the virus, stands at 0.93 over the entire Region. As for the incidence rate, it is 72 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. “We are not accusing a maddening increase,” reassured Benoît Elleboode, the director general of the Regional Health Agency at a press conference, where was present South West. The regional incidence rate remains below the national average, around 91 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. But it is the dynamic that worries.
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The incidence rate “has fallen less than in the previous weeks, explained the director general of the ARS. Until then, we had observed a drop of 20 to 30% in the incidence rate, and for the past two weeks, it has been 7%, which is akin to stabilization. Something is happening. “
The situation nevertheless remains under control with reassuring indicators: hospital pressure is not affected by this “stabilization” with 30% of occupied capacity. The test positivity rate varies little, around 2.7%, or below the attention threshold of 5%.
Departmental disparities
But within the largest region of France, the situations are diverse according to the departments. Three territories are particularly under surveillance: the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Charente-Maritime and Lot-et-Garonne. In these three territories, the incidence rates are on the rise, in varying proportions. If in Lot-et-Garonne (69 per 100,000) and Charente-Maritime (45 per 100,000), the increases remain contained – respectively 1.3% and 15.5%, the situation is more delicate in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques .
The incidence rate amounts to 110 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, an increase of 36% with several clusters reported, specifies the ARS. A strong disparity can be noted within the department with a higher incidence rate in the Basque Country (152 per 100,000 inhabitants) than in Béarn (83 per 100,000). The prefecture plans to strengthen controls, in particular to avoid wild festive gatherings.
In the Landes or Gironde, the indicators are also higher than some of their neighbors, with respectively 88 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants (against 63 on May 3) and 75 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, but in this department a decrease 10% should be noted.
The “Indian” variant in the Landes
On Wednesday, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional health agency and the Landes prefecture announced new measures to try to curb this increase in the epidemic: saliva screening in schools in eight municipalities, encouragement to self-tests in high schools in Dax and Mont-de-Marsan as well as respect for barrier gestures, acceleration of vaccination especially in Dax and its surroundings. The department is all the more worried because the so-called Indian variant has been spotted in a family in the city of the spa town. The vector of transmission is not yet known, but the family has so far had no connection with India or Britain, according to the ARS. Could the presence of variants in the territories explain this dynamic of virus circulation?
Rather spared during the different waves of the epidemic, New Aquitaine is home to a relatively young population with little immunity, which has mixed more since deconfinement. So the dynamic does not surprise the experts. “It was planned, we expected it, explains Benoît Elleboode. In the current context, given that the region has been spared, it is more vulnerable today”.
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In addition, like a vicious circle, the increased circulation of the virus favors the appearance of variants. In Bordeaux at the end of May, a cluster of patients presenting a mutation of the English variant had been detected on the scale of a district of Bacalan, then in Deux-Sèvres, finally without “over-incidence” of the virus, had specified the ARS after an extensive screening operation.
Known for its tourist attraction, the Region has also seen its population vary since the relaxation of restrictions. On the local channel TV7, Amandine Southon, head of pole at the regional tourism committee of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, mentioned an increase in reservations since the last announcements. “This last Ascension weekend, there was an occupancy rate of 70% on coastal accommodation,” she explained. A mixing of population which could also be one of the factors of the increase in the circulation of the virus.
One of the strongest vaccination coverage
The Region is nevertheless a good student in terms of vaccination. According to the ARS, as of May 26, nearly 2.4 million New Aquitanians had received a dose of vaccine and 1.1 million of them received both doses, placing the territory in second place in terms of coverage. vaccination one dose with 39.5% of the first-vaccinated population, just behind Corsica. New Aquitaine slips into the top three for the complete vaccination schedule, with 19% of its population affected.
Is she suffering from “vaccinee syndrome”? Several doctors have warned about this phenomenon: a decrease in vigilance and respect for barrier gestures in first-time vaccines. However, a single dose does not prevent contamination and vaccine protection is not complete until fifteen days after the injection of the second dose. A call for vigilance relayed by Gabriel Attal on Wednesday. He recalled that a single injection did not guarantee “complete vaccine protection”.
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