If the Covid-19 virus continues to circulate in a massive and worrying manner throughout France, with more than 20,000 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours (a record!), A small glimmer of improvement is showing in a few towns and departments.
The Minister of Health welcomed this Thursday, October 8, but lip service, probably so as not to raise too much hope.
Olivier Véran spoke of a “positive inflection” in Rennes, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.
He also noted a "significant improvement" in the health situation in Nice and Bordeaux, while Nièvre and Morbihan left the list of departments placed in the alert zone to join the 29 which did not inspire any particular concerns.
Although she considers the situation in her department still "serious", the prefect of Gironde Fabienne Buccio announced this Friday a relaxation of certain restrictive measures (reopening of swimming pools, flea markets, party rooms ...), while maintaining in Bordeaux the bars close at 10 p.m.
Behavioral differences between generations
How to explain these small victories in the long and complex fight against the spread of the virus?
For Fabienne Buccio, they are the fruit of the “sense of responsibility” of its citizens.
They are also due to the fact that his department was "among the first to anticipate the measures" of restriction.
In Morbihan, the drop in the weekly incidence rate, now to 37.6 new positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants, below the alert threshold set at 50 by the health authorities, is also the consequence of the latest measures adopted. : from wearing a mask to awareness campaigns on the respect of barrier gestures among young people.
The improvements, in some areas and not in others, could also be understood by observing the lifestyle of the French.
And first of all according to their age.
"The difference in behavior between the generations may be an avenue to explore in order to understand this recent development", agrees Lise Bourdeau-Lepage, geographer, doctor in economics, professor at the University of Lyon-III and researcher at the CNRS.
“Young and old people don't have the same social habits at all.
The demography of a territory can therefore play a role.
I am thinking in particular of Nice or Morbihan.
After welcoming many tourists during the summer, these areas have returned to their usual populations.
Often older, they go out less and protect themselves more for fear of the virus.
"
A Breton has less social contact than a Parisian
The results of a vast survey launched in March to understand the effects of confinement on the daily lives of French people also provide some answers.
"Our sample of 11,000 people representative of the French population enabled us to conclude that there are differences in relational habits and social connection depending on the region," continues Lise Bourdeau-Lepage.
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“For example, we measured that a Breton came into daily contact with more than ten people before confinement against more than fifteen for a Parisian.
Even "if it would be hazardous to draw direct consequences from these observations", according to the expert, this study tends to show that the way of life in certain regions exposes them more than others to the risk of the virus spreading.
A hypothesis also put forward by some experts to explain that countries like Germany were little affected during the first wave.