What if it was the start of a sixth wave? The number of positive Covid-19 cases continues to increase across the country. And the Île-de-France region is not spared. Positive cases, hospitalizations, trends, we take stock.
The conclusion is clear. Since the winter holidays, the coronavirus figures have started to rise again and the trend continues in Paris and Île-de-France. According to the latest figures published by Public Health France, on March 24, 84,749 positive cases were recorded during the week of March 14 to 20. This is 33,802 cases more than the previous week.
Increase in contamination, decrease in critical care hospitalizations
This increase is reflected in all the data measured by the institute. The same week, the positivity rate rose to 19.3%, against 14.3% a week earlier, and the incidence rate increased from 415 to 690 per 100,000 inhabitants, in seven days. As with all previous waves, this progression is reflected in hospitals. On March 20, 727 people were hospitalized for Covid-19 in the region, 14 more than the previous week.
The only “good” news, the new Omicron sub-variant, named BA2, more contagious than the first version and now the majority does not seem more dangerous since the number of new critical care admissions has dropped to 87, whereas it was at 117 seven days before, and even 154 two weeks before. Same observation for the number of deaths in hospital due to Covid-19, from 92 to March 13, they were “only” 57 on March 20.
The number of tests explodes
The situation is not uniform throughout the region. If the occupancy rate of intensive care beds is the same in all departments, Les Hauts-de-Seine and Paris show a higher incidence rate than the others on March 24 with respectively 1,383.3 and 1,359.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. They are thus ahead of Yvelines (1,217.7), Essonne (1,034.7), Val-de-Marne (1,011), Seine-et-Marne (978.5), Val-d’Oise (882 ,6) and finally, Seine-Saint-Denis (585.9).
The continuous increase in cases of contamination is also reflected in pharmacies. According to several pharmacists interviewed by us, a wave is being felt. “The number of tests is exploding, the positives with it. We are starting to be overwhelmed again, ”despairs David, a pharmacist in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. And the figures from Public Health France confirm this impression. On March 23, 112,587 tests were carried out in Île-de-France. There were only 78,985 on March 18 and 64,429 on March 11. Tired but not surprised, David regrets the abandonment of barrier gestures and the lack of vigilance: “I see people everywhere without masks, in closed places where people congregate like stores or even theaters. You should not be surprised. Looks like the virus no longer exists. »
Relaxation on barrier gestures
New variant? Back to school and the office? End of mandatory mask wearing? Difficult to know exactly the exact importance of each of these elements to justify the new increase. Contacted by 20 minutes, the National Health Insurance Fund ensures that it is too early to draw a conclusion from the data on sick leave. But the employee of a CPAM in Île-de-France confirms that requests have increased “significantly” for a week.
Remarks which seem to confirm the observation of the World Health Organization (WHO) which warned of the “too brutal” lifting of the restriction measures, or of the epidemiologist Yves Buisson who, with our colleagues from France Info, encourages people at risk to continue wearing the mask, regretting that the lifting of the wearing of the mandatory mask indoors was “unquestionably” done too soon.