- Last week, four new clusters were identified.
- All appeared before deconfinement, and three of them are in departments classified green, where the coronavirus circulates little.
- These new epidemic foci raise fears of a second wave and a possible reconfiguration.
Here we are. Since Monday, France is finally deconfigured. Users resumed public transport to return to work. The shops have reopened, and some teachers and children have returned this Tuesday. The lucky ones of the departments classified green, them, rediscovered the joys of strolls in the parks and forests, and the Parisians regoutés with the joys of the aperitifs on the edges of the Saint-Martin canal (before being dislodged by the police) . But this is not the time for recklessness in this "next world", and some clues remind us of reality. Masked faces, bars, restaurants and closed cinemas and shopping streets still very sparse are there to tell us that the coronavirus epidemic is far from behind us.
Last week, even before the start of deconfinement, four new clusters, or sources of contamination, were identified. Two in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and one in Vendée, in the green zone, and one in Clamart, in Ile-de-France, classified in red. Several people, some of whom were asymptomatic, tested positive for Covid-19. Is France following the same path as Germany and South Korea, which are today recording a worrying increase in the number of new cases of Covid-19? How will the health authorities manage the emergence of new clusters? Are a second wave and a reconfiguration possible?
Beware of "loosening"
In the Dordogne after a funeral, in a secondary school in Vienne after a preparatory meeting for the start of the school year, or in Vendée in a slaughterhouse, these three new clusters appeared in territories where the virus circulates little. This raises fears of a sharp increase in new contaminations, while the French can once again move more freely. Health authorities remind us: no one should forget the threat posed by the coronavirus. "It should especially not that in the head of some people, this deconfinement leads to a relaxation," insisted the director general of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of New Aquitaine, Michel Laforcade, who points "a form relaxation in the family and professional world, which means that the barrier measures have not been respected. ”
Same observation at the Ministry of Health. "The virus continues to circulate, there may be a reflex from people who aspire to regain a form of freedom and the most normal life possible, and it is a trap, for them and for the people around them, has warned this Tuesday the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran. If we do not correctly follow the distancing measures, the barrier gestures, then the virus will start again (…). And if the virus has to start again, we will be forced to put in place new constraints to protect the French. ”
"An emergency reconfiguration must be anticipated"
In practice, "an emergency reconfiguration must be anticipated", warns in his report on deconfinement, published this Monday, the high official Jean Castex, recalling that to date, "in the absence, in the short term, of vaccine or a curative solution, the French population remains vulnerable to a resumption of the epidemic ”, he underlines.
In this 68-page report, the government deconfinement insists on the “very high level of vigilance” that must be observed in this first stage. Thus, in the event of a resurgence of the epidemic, "the possibility of reversibility of the measures must therefore always be available and the possibility of an emergency reconfiguration must remain in the minds and be anticipated by the public authorities", he urges.
“Massive use of telework at least until the end of June”, very “progressive” “disarming” of resuscitation beds in the hospital, or even the possibility granted to the prefects to “restore local limitations” on movement at all timing and closure of the Schengen area's external borders are among the recommendations made in this report. Jean Castex obviously insists on the "implication" of the French who "will respect the barrier gestures and the distancing measures, will mobilize to make masks and will try to wear them as much as possible" to avoid any resumption of the epidemic.
Towards a second wave?
Will new clusters multiply? And lead us to a second wave? Not necessarily. The detection of these new sources of contamination is on the contrary a sign of a weaker presence of the virus on the territory, which makes them easier to detect when they emerge. The last cluster to date was thus identified at the end of last week in a home for young workers in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), after an agent began to develop the symptoms of Covid-19.
"One of the employees of the establishment, fearing to contract it in turn, consulted me, and as I am part of the Covid-19 center in Clamart, a screening of all employees, then residents, was organized ”, explains to 20 Minutes Dr. Jean-Paul Hamon, general practitioner at Clamart and president of the Federation of Doctors of France (FMF). The results of some of the residents tested are still awaited, but already "nine positive cases have been detected," continues Dr. Hamon. And all residents tested positive, who are young men in their twenties, have the distinction of being asymptomatic: none have developed signs of the disease. It is quite difficult to believe for them, but all were confined to a room to prevent the virus from continuing to circulate. And a team from the ARS Ile-de-France goes there to identify any contact cases ”.
Identify, screen and isolate to avoid a second wave
To avoid reconfiguration, speed of reaction must be essential. "We must identify, screen and isolate all new cases as quickly as possible," insists Dr. Jean-Paul Hamon. It is our role to us, the general practitioners, to take part in this process in three stages, and to declare the new cases on the site of the medical service of the Health insurance, which is subjected to the respect of the medical secrecy, and which will then pilot the surveys to identify possible contact cases and tell them what to do to stem the spread of the virus ”. Thus, if for the general practitioner, "a reconfiguration plan is a scenario not to be excluded, this ability to quickly identify, test and confine the new clusters constitutes the best weapon against a second wave and a reconfiguration".
It is also this early detection of foci of contamination that protected Brittany. The region, which nevertheless experienced two "clusters" at the very beginning of the French Covid-19 epidemic, is one of the least affected by mortality. "The lessons that can be learned about the rapid control of the few clusters that we have had in Brittany is the importance of early detection", commented Professor Pierre Tattevin, head of the disease department infectious at the Rennes University Hospital during a press conference.
For the infectious disease specialist, this experience could be useful in the event of a resumption of the epidemic in France. Especially "if we use the tests widely, we will not miss epidemics that start". Especially since to date, "we know the disease better and people are more alert, he reassures. It will be easier than in February ”. For Dr. Jean-Paul Hamon, "we will have to observe the next fortnight with great attention".
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- Deconfinement
- Contamination
- Health
- Coronavirus
- Screening
- epidemic