The weekend was eventful in several European countries. The opposition has been chaotic on the streets in reaction to the strengthening of health measures to counter the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. These events are a sign that the easing of restrictions has been too rapid and that it is difficult for the population to accept the fact that it is necessary to “go back”, estimates an expert.
In Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday, police used water cannons and tear gas against a group of people throwing projectiles, in a rally that brought together tens of thousands. The demonstration, held under the slogan “Together for freedom”, aimed to denounce the ban on unvaccinated people from accessing places such as restaurants and bars.
“It’s difficult for people to understand that we have to go back,” analyzes Nathalie Grandvaux, specialist in respiratory viruses and director of the CHUM’s research laboratory on the host’s response to viral infections. We asked them to make an effort, there was a lot of optimism at the start in communications and, finally, we go back. “
“There is this fifth wave affecting Europe. We’ve been in this for a little over a year and a half, and I think there is this feeling that we are always going back and starting over, ”adds the specialist.
According to her, this is proof that, in Quebec, we should not listen to those who insisted on easing the measures more quickly. “We could discuss whether it was enough or not, but our government decided to go relatively step by step, despite the vaccination,” she said, insisting that the European countries went “Way too fast”.
It’s hard for people to understand that we have to go back. We asked them to make an effort, there was a lot of optimism at the start […] and, finally, we go back.
Unrest also erupted in the Netherlands for three consecutive evenings to protest against a tightening of health measures. The protests kicked off on Friday, with what was called an “orgy of violence” by the mayor of Rotterdam. Four demonstrators were injured by police gunfire. The number of arrests stood at 130 on Sunday evening.
“Dazzling” increase in France
The situation is also worrying particularly in France, where cases are increasing rapidly. “This fifth wave, it starts in a dazzling way”, launched Sunday the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal. On average calculated over seven days, the number of daily cases has almost doubled in one week. It was 17,153 on Saturday, compared to 9,458 the previous Saturday.
Interviewed by France Info, Gilles Pialoux, infectious disease specialist and head of the tropical infectious diseases department at Tenon hospital in Paris, believes, however, that, for the moment, France “maintains the gap between the increase in new cases and the increase in re-entry into the hospital ”.
“The term ‘dazzling’, I think it’s a political impression. It is his right, but that does not correspond to a mathematical reality ”, estimates the specialist. Almost 75% of the total population has been adequately vaccinated in France.
In Austria, on the other hand, only 66% of the population has received their vaccines, and full containment has been declared until December 13, in response to an increase in cases to levels not seen since spring 2020. Austria is moreover, the first country of the European Union to make vaccination compulsory for the entire population, a measure which will come into force from 1er February 2022.
It does not come across like a letter in the mail. More than 40,000 people demonstrated in Vienna on Saturday to denounce “the corona-dictatorship” and “fascism”. Making vaccination compulsory risks “polarizing the fronts even more rather than convincing hesitant people”, for its part affirmed to the Swiss daily.The weather Alessandro Diana, infectious disease doctor in Geneva and specialist in vaccine adherence.
And in Quebec?
Meanwhile in Quebec, the increase in cases in Europe raises fears of the possibility of a fifth wave. The subject is a matter of debate among specialists, since we consider that the European situation tends to be transposed to us later in time.
Nathalie Grandvaux, she is in the camp of optimists. “We managed our fourth wave much better than other countries, and the hospitalization rate remained very low,” she says.
She adds that the vaccination rate among those aged 12 and over is very high in the province, at over 88%. “Currently, when we look at the numbers of our cases, unlike these countries, more than half are in school-aged children,” she adds.
As Health Canada has authorized the vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, the specialist therefore hopes that increasing vaccination in younger children will “significantly” reduce the number of cases. If we keep the masks and the vaccine passport in place, she believes that this will prevent the same growth as in Europe.
With Agence France-Presse