The 7th wave of Covid-19 is sweeping through France. France passed the threshold of 200,000 daily positive cases on Tuesday July 5. Faced with this rebound in the epidemic, the government is reluctant to take braking measures. The executive prefers to encourage rather than constrain. “I appeal to everyone’s responsibility to curb the epidemic: let’s wear the mask in crowded places, let’s find the right reflexes”, said the Minister of Health, François Braun, Tuesday in front of deputies. Franceinfo describes why the executive does not decide in favor of firmer decisions.
Because he hopes that his instructions will be respected
Faced with the law commission, François Braun affirmed that the government’s strategy was “clear”. This, he explained, revolves around three axes : the “reinforcement of barrier gestures”, “vaccination of the most vulnerable” and the use of treatments, such as Paxlovid and monoclonal antibodies.
On the first point, the Minister of Health calls, without forcing, to bring “masks wherever we are on top of each other”and recalled the importance of hand washing. “Let’s remember the barrier gestures, our fellow citizens are responsible and they will use them”did he declare.
On the second axis, François Braun affirmed that “Ia vaccination against severe forms [sauvait] Lives“, adding having as “emergency doctor, seen far too many preventable deaths”. This is why it encourages the most vulnerable people, those over 60 and the immunocompromised, to receive a second booster dose (which corresponds to a third injection or a fourth, depending on the case).
As for treatments, such as paxlovid, the Minister noted that they allow “significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization for vulnerable people“. François Braun clarified that “1,500 patients [avaient] benefited from the treatment this last week”an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous week.
“You have to get vaccinated when you are fragile, and you have to do it now, when we have not reached the peak [de la septième vague]”, hammers @fbraun55.#DirectAN #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/iW6bXULtx7
—LCP (@LCP) July 5, 2022
Because he hopes for a weaker wave than the previous ones
The Minister of Health has noted an increase in admissions to conventional hospital wards and, to a lesser extent, to critical care. However, he pointed out that this increase is, so far, “far below the January peak” and without comparison with previous waves, “on an even greater scale”. Showing confidence, he nevertheless affirmed that the government remained “extremely attentive to the evolution of the situation in the context that we know about the hospital”.
When will this peak be reached and how high will it be? “I cannot tell you with certainty when the epidemic peak will be reached.conceded the minister. Scientists sketch a horizon at two or three weeks and highlight the uncertainties of the projections at this stage. What we are seeing from countries that have experienced viral circulation before us comparable to the one we are experiencing is that they peaked in about six weeks.said François Braun, mentioning South Africa and Portugal.
“We are experiencing a seventh wave of Covid-19”, assures the Minister of Health, @fbraun55.
He presents a bill presenting “minimal, but necessary” measures.#DirectAN #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/s8PlpTTd5y—LCP (@LCP) July 5, 2022
In Portugal, the last two waves (those of March and May-June) were much less strong than that of winter 2021-2022, in number of positive cases. But it is proving difficult to apply the same formula in France. For lack of means and data, French researchers and epidemiologists have not been able to establish solid and reliable projections for this seventh wave, a first since the start of the pandemic.
Because school holidays can slow the spread of the virus
School holidays are considered, by specialists, as a lever that can help to contain, in part, the seventh wave. “There will be a braking part which is due to the fact that we now know that the school universe, with very low vaccination of children, is a place of spread of the virus. That is very clear with the ‘absence of class closures’estimated infectious disease specialist Gilles Pialoux, on franceinfo, at the end of June.
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“Despite the divergent opinions of specialists, we all agree on the fact that there are certainly contaminations in schools and that closing them makes it possible to avoid these contaminations”had noticed Pascal Crépey, epidemiologist.
This remains to be relativized because the“summer is the time when we also travel a lot more”underlines Gilles Pialoux, adding that “the rate of wearing a mask in public transport, on trains, on planes is at a very low level”.
Because it’s politically delicate
Sars-CoV-2 is “an eminently political and social virus, which adjusts to political temporality, to vacation departures”judged Patrick Pelloux, president of the association of emergency physicians of France, Wednesday, on Europe 1.
Patrick Pelloux, president of the association of emergency physicians of France, about the 7th wave: “It is an eminently political and social virus, which adjusts to political temporality, to departures on vacation (…) But it will continue” in the face of @SoMabrouk #Europe1 pic.twitter.com/YHRqK9ffni
— Europe 1 (@Europe1) July 6, 2022
“Removing the mask completely was a mistake. It should have been kept on, at least in transport” Where “when there are fragile people”estimated the emergency doctor. The infectiologist Gilles Pialoux also criticized the choices “politics” of the government. According to him, simply recommending the mask in closed places is only a “waiting measure”.
While the presidential majority is only relative to the National Assembly, the government distances itself from binding measures for political reasons. After more than two years of the pandemic, with the summer holidays just beginning, tougher decisions than incitement are likely to be unpopular and could open up an avenue of criticism to the opposition.
Precisely, they are satisfied to see that the government is not coercive. “The slightest thing that you will impose, it will not passwarned the rebellious MP and caregiver Caroline Fiat to franceinfo. Health prevention must be brought back to the fore.œheart of the debates among the French.” The presidential majority is on the same line: “What is needed is not to annoy the French. We must inform the population”, estimated the deputy MoDem and doctor Cyrille Isaac-Sibille. For him, “You have to give recommendations and then everyone has to feel responsible. You have to empower”.
This does not prevent the Nupes fromattack the government’s strategy. For the New Popular Ecological and Social Union, the executive is “a thousand miles from the health issues of the moment” omitting the importance of airborne transmission and the key role that air purifiers and CO2 sensors could play in enclosed spaces.