Should we fear a "second wave"? Two days after the start of the deconfinement, the authorities continue to fear a new wave of the coronavirus epidemic, and are keeping an eye on Germany or South Korea, which have had to reinstate restrictions after new cases of contamination. However, such a scenario still remains hypothetical, and specialists remain cautious.
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"The population has been sensitized"
Indeed, if the deconfinement started, teleworking remains encouraged in many companies, the wearing of the mask is recommended in the population, and the social distancing is for the moment rather well respected. Thus, according to Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious diseases department at Tenon Hospital in Paris, all the tools are in place to avoid the second wave. "We are always very careful," he told Europe 1, "but here we are in a very different situation, with a population that has been sensitized. People will generally apply these measures, and this will have an impact on the spread of the virus. " Provided, however, that this civic health is respected over time.
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Another argument put forward by some infectiologists: the seasonality of the virus, which remains to be proven. However, with higher temperatures and more open living areas outside, the Covid-19 should have more trouble spreading.
For Jean Sibilia, dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Strasbourg, the second wave should in any case not be for now. "There are optimistic scenarios, others which are less optimistic, with a dominant scenario which is that of a second wave which will appear in the fall, with the hope that it can benefit from the progress of science" , he explains. Because with several months of "respite", scientists will have more time to put in place treatments and perhaps even a vaccine.