When the head of infectious disease went on vacation, there was still a Covid-19 patient in intensive care at Tenon hospital in Paris. Three weeks later, Professor Gilles Pialoux discovers, with surprise, that they are now ten. This time all the beds are full. In addition to the sick, caregivers brought back the virus from their vacation. "You have to fight so that everyone wears their mask, even in the hospital, find the error", launches the doctor, angry.
Second wave? Whatever term you choose, he said, "the words, I don't care, what I can say is that there is a real resurgence of the epidemic, almost all indicators show it, there you go. ! ". For the first time since the deconfinement which began on May 11, the Directorate General of Health evokes "a sustained circulation" of the virus and, here again, the vocabulary is not chosen at random.
Now, in France, the national weekly incidence rate has exceeded the vigilance threshold, with more than 10 people infected per 100,000 inhabitants, an increase of 78% in three weeks. In Mayenne, it explodes to 143 per 100,000. The rate of positives is progressing like that of the clusters: 678 have been identified since May 9 and 20 more between Thursday and Friday.
"Avoid falling into a deleterious spiral"
“There are worrying indicators in certain districts of the Lille metropolis,” warns Dr. Patrick Goldstein, while specifying that there is no increase in intensive care admissions. But, be careful, says the head of emergencies of the CHU of Lille (North), it will be necessary "urgently to break this dynamic", especially among young people, the most affected population, for fear that they transmit the virus to people. most at risk. "The obligatory masks in the public space are a very good thing to avoid falling into a deleterious spiral".
Have we missed something, asks Gilles Pialoux. Was the epidemic wave too abstract for a majority of French people? "The pugilats on the television sets, the imbroglio on chloroquine, the destabilizing speeches on the masks have created mistrust and even a negationist climate, 40% of the French do not want the vaccine" (Editor's note: 32% according to a recent poll), ”he says. He has not forgotten this first wave - “we had water up to our eyes” -, the 30,000 deaths, “the tragedy of thousands of families”. As long as we take this new threat seriously, he hopes: "Today, I am fighting to stop saying that we are doing catastrophism."