"Do you think there were announcements?"
"To question Dominique Costagliola on the possible effects of the measures" announced "this Friday evening by Jean Castex, is to receive a scathing response.
Like her, epidemiologists, these experts in figures and curves, joined in the wake, look grim.
To hear them, the closure of very large shopping centers, border restrictions, strengthening of gauges in shops, but also the strengthening of test-tracer-isolate, will not be enough.
VIDEO. Jean Castex: large non-food shopping centers closed and strict border controls
“Unfortunately, I fear it is too late.
There is nothing there to break the dynamic which, of course, does not explode, but is rising, ”breathes Mahmoud Zureik.
The professor of public health at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin (Yvelines) refers to the figures: nearly 23,000 new cases identified and already hospitals with 27,000 patients and more than 3,000 in intensive care.
“Each measure will have a small effect, but not enough,” he continues.
Closing borders outside the EU will, for example, reduce the risk of the introduction of Brazilian and South African variants, which are known to be more contagious.
"
Ten days ahead of us
If the Prime Minister assured him with a convinced voice, "we can still give ourselves a chance to avoid confinement", he strongly doubts.
“Avoid confinement, we would all like it.
It's too hard, too restrictive, but what is put in place does not prevent its necessity.
There is no extreme urgency, but it will take ten days, ”warns Mircea Sofonéa, lecturer in epidemiology, at the University of Montpellier (Hérault).
READ ALSO>
Reconfinement: can we still escape it?
His fear: that we exhaust ourselves on details, rather than banging hard and early on a virus which, reboosted by the cold and the British variant, takes over.
“Now is not the time to play with fire.
We should have acted sooner.
Acting with scoops, we waste time.
It can work in departments that are still preserved like Jura, Finistère, Corsica, but not nationally, ”he believes.
The spectrum of 5,000 patients in intensive care
Because, according to him, "the most optimistic scenario" is that of 5,000 patients in intensive care at the beginning of March.
A déjà vu situation that would put extreme strain on hospitals and non-Covid patients.
This Friday, on the social network Twitter, the environmental senator Bernard Jomier, president of the Covid19 information mission and doctor by profession, was not left out: "A new package of measures without much chance of reversing the trend of 'epidemic.
It is no longer hesitation, it is a refusal of an obstacle.
"
A new set of measures with little chance of reversing the trend of the epidemic.
It is no longer hesitation, it is a refusal of an obstacle.
It will undoubtedly cost us dearly.
# COVID19 #declarationCastex
- Bernard Jomier (@BernardJomier) January 29, 2021
For Professor Mahmoud Zureik, only schools that remain open can still leverage.
"We must act on school holidays," he pleads.
Harmonize them, extend them to four weeks and take advantage of this time to review protocols, ventilations, install CO2 sensors.
We do not have a choice.
"
