Published on 07/10/2022 at 13:23
Updated 07/10/2022 at 13:23
Lesson 3 min.
in collaboration with
Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
With all the indicators pointing to the virus on the rise, the ascendant phase of the next wave – the eighth – of Covid-19 is here. If Omicron is present everywhere in France, however, we note that the eastern regions seem to be most affected. Mask, teleworking, vaccination: will there be any changes in the coming weeks? Let’s take stock.
The latest data from Santé Publique France (SPF), published on Wednesday 5 October, leave no room for doubt: the eighth wave of Covid-19 has indeed begun and all indicators, especially hospitalizations, are on the rise.
According to SPF, there are therefore an average of 45,717 positive cases every day and 66,564 new cases in 24 hours until 5 October, or 24.5% of the additional positive cases.
It was also listed on October 7:
- 4,370 hospitalizations;
- 379 new ICU admissions.
It is still the Omicron variant that circulates exclusively in France and in particular its BA.5 sub-lineage that remains the majority.
Should we be worried about these rising numbers? Do not panic according to Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo: “We are in the ascendant phase, which is normal with a virus that circulates and remains very contagious. We cannot speak of the same wave, we can say it when there is saturation in hospitals, which is obviously not the case at the moment “..
An increasing incidence rate
For Brigitte Autran, president of Covars, the Committee for the monitoring and anticipation of health risks that followed the Scientific Council, instead “we are in this eighth wave “.
The overall incidence rate in France on 6 October reached 471 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, an increase of 31%. Suffice it to say that France is affected in its entirety.
However, the regions of the Grand Est, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes are the most affected, with incidence rates exceeding 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. But for Gérald Kierzek, “we should stop focusing on these figures: hospitalizations are the real indicator “.
Towards a return of the mandatory mask?
The mask is no longer mandatory since the end of the state of health emergency which occurred on July 31, 2022. Solo “heads of health facilities they can continue to impose it on their premises, such as pharmacies, medical analysis laboratories, doctors’ offices, etc.
But with the current situation the obligation to wear a mask returns “in the study “ Brigitte Autran confirmed yesterday, with our colleagues from France 2. “We are thinking about it, they are calculating what the advantages of wearing a mandatory mask would be compared to wearing a recommended mask “. “A political and not a health measure “ esteem on his part Gérald Kierzek.
Vaccination for the most vulnerable
For the Covars president, however, the health pass was “nothing new” and vaccination remains intended only for the classes of the population most at risk.
DREES, the Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics, publishes a press release in which it recalls the interest of vaccination for the elderly:
- “The first booster, for people aged 60 and over, provides protection against symptomatic infection with the Omicron variant (including the underlines BA.1, BA2, BA.4 / BA.5 found so far in France) but also and above all against serious forms and death, but this protection erodes over time, especially in the face of contagion;
- The second booster, for people aged 60 or over, helps to stop the erosion of the protection conferred by the first booster over time; however, this protection erodes over time even for people aged 80 and over; an observation that cannot be made for the group of people aged 60 to 79 given that the numbers at this stage are insufficient to carry out solid analyzes “.
In this regard, we recall that last Monday, October 3, the recall campaign for the most vulnerable began.
Consult a doctor online
And telework?
One of the major measures adopted in the professional world, with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, is teleworking. This way of organizing the company contributes to the prevention of the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, because it limits social interactions in the workplace and in transport, in home-work travel.
If nothing is officially indicated for the time being – except for civil servants whose teleworking should be enforced to save energy – it is possible that teleworking will be recommended again in the coming weeks to employees for whom it is conceivable.
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