The fifth wave of Covid-19 will have “a significant impact” on health establishments, of the order of “1,000 to 1,500 hospitalizations per day”, and this “for several weeks”, Jean-François Delfraissy said Monday, Chairman of the Scientific Council.
Notice of strong swells: after the summer “small wave”, “the real wave of Delta variant is coming, it’s the fifth wave,” said Professor Delfraissy during a conference organized by the Order of Pharmacists in Paris. The hospital, relatively spared for the moment by the epidemic resumption, should expect “a significant impact” by the end of the year: “We think it will go up to 1,000, or even 1,500 hospitalizations per day” , he warned.
“We will have to put back restrictions”
The peak would thus be higher than at the end of August (around 900 on a weekly average), but “much more limited” than that of the third wave (more than 2,100 in mid-April), he added. Last week, Professor Delfraissy assured that the healthcare system would “probably have the capacity” to cope with this fifth wave.
However, he predicted Monday that caregivers would “live it for several weeks”, even announcing “not easy weeks around Christmas”. To overcome the ordeal, “the vaccine will not be enough, we will have to put back restrictions”, he said, referring to “the wearing of the mask”, but also an earlier integration than expected of the third dose in the past. health for people over 65. This measure, supposed to come into force on December 15, could apply “from the middle of next week,” he said.