Spared, but until when?
The metropolis of Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) is not one of the nine territories (Île-de-France and eight other metropolises) where a curfew will be decreed from 9 p.m. starting this Saturday.
The figures for the Covid-19 epidemic are however particularly worrying.
In Clermont Auvergne Métropole (its full name), the incidence rate is 264 in the general population and 234 in people 65 and over, over the week of October 6 to 12.
This is what we discover in the dashboard of Public Health France, where the level of the metropolis was added this Friday morning.
This is good, it is at this geographic level that the incidence rates (ie the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a week) must be analyzed.
Situation "monitored extremely carefully"
In both cases (general population and elderly), we are therefore above the maximum alert thresholds which were set at the end of September (250 and 100 respectively).
Above all, we see that in the metropolises of Aix Marseille, Montpellier and Toulouse, concerned by a curfew, at least one of the two indicators is lower than in Clermont.
Under these conditions, how to explain that the agglomeration of Puy-de-Dôme is not housed in the same boat?
The prefecture of the department returns the ball to the Regional Health Authority of Auvergne Rhône Alpes, which invites to turn to the Ministry of Health.
In reality, we discover that the situation has played out very little.
The ministry also insists on the fact that, "if Clermont was not retained in the list of metropolises with a curfew announced this week, it remains particularly vigilant and the health authorities monitor the situation on a daily basis. extremely carefully ”.
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When the decision was taken to impose a curfew on this or that territory, on October 13, the indicators of Clermont metropolis were a little less degraded than today.
The incidence rate was then 228 in the general population, a little below Marseille and Toulouse, and 160 in people 65 and over.
"When examining the situations in metropolitan areas, the incidence rate in the general population in Clermont-Ferrand was still below the maximum alert threshold null250, Editor's note].
This is why the Clermont-Ferrand metropolis has not been the subject of a curfew decision for the moment, ”explains the Ministry of Health.
As for the intensive care occupancy rate, it is around 40% across the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region.
A source at the Regional Health Authority tells us that the hospital situation is "less tense" in Clermont-Ferrand ... but that this may not last because of the transfers of patients within the same region in order to relieve the hospitals in neighboring towns.
Less populated than other metropolises
With less than 300,000 inhabitants, Clermont Auvergne metropolis has perhaps also benefited from being less populated than those of Saint-Etienne (400,000) and Rouen (490,000), for example.
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Still, she has now "exceeded the thresholds".
"If this dynamic continues, restrictive measures could be considered, in conjunction with local authorities and in consultation with elected officials", indicates the ministry.
Clermont could therefore also be imposed a curfew very soon.
For her as for other cities, a possible decision should not be taken before next week, the time to be able to have more “consolidated” indicators.
