The hour, this Wednesday morning, was for lucidity, without falling into an exaggerated anxiety.
Faced with the increase in contamination, the observation is clear: “The fifth wave is here.
(…) There is an acceleration, ”said Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, immunologist and president of the Scientific Council, guest of France Inter.
An observation shared by Professor Gilles Pialloux, head of the infectious diseases department at Tenon hospital in Paris.
"Yes, we are on a health alert in relation to the fixed thresholds", he admitted, on BFMTV-RMC.
However, the situation is not yet critical, since it is "completely different from last winter".
If vaccination considerably reduces the risk of hospitalization, other winter viruses have resumed their circulation, unlike last year at the same period.
Enough to make Gilles Pialloux say that "it's not just the wave that worries" in the hospital.
"Probably the capacity" to cope
For Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, the healthcare system “probably has the capacity” to cope with the fifth wave of Covid-19 which is affecting France, if “all the tools” such as vaccination, health passes and gestures barrier are used to the maximum, "but it will be difficult with a hospital system which is tired", he added, still on France Inter.
Read alsoFifth wave of Covid: should the tests be made free again for all?
And precisely, concerning the tools to fight against this new wave, Professor Gilles Pialloux pleads, for his part, for the return of free tests. "We have a long way to go because we have given up on screening", whereas it is "one more tool. Someone who knows they are positive does not have the same behavior, ”he continues, explaining that the end of free tests had not only reduced screening for asymptomatic patients but, in addition, lengthened the time between the start of tests. symptoms and the test.
Another necessary measure, for Professor Gilles Pialloux, to prevent the circulation of the virus in children, without necessarily going through vaccination but especially with barrier gestures and CO2 sensors.
"We should never have removed the mask at school," argues the head of the infectious diseases department at Tenon hospital in Paris.
