INTERVIEW
A second wave in France? "It is entirely possible," says Antoine Flahault. Invited by Europe 1, the epidemiologist and professor of public health at the University of Geneva reacted on Wednesday to the words of the Director General of Health. In an interview with Le Figaro, Jérôme Salomon estimated that it was necessary to "prepare for a resumption of the epidemic" of coronavirus, "even for a second wave" possible. A phenomenon quite possible for the epidemiologist, who draws on the example of Iran, Saudi Arabia, several American states, and Australia, currently affected by a second wave from Covid-19.
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"Rather than procrastinating (...) we must prepare for it"
"We see second waves in Iran, in Saudi Arabia, in Florida, in California", enumerates the researcher. "So it is quite possible that there is one" in Europe, he continues, affirming all the same that currently, if the virus still circulates in all our countries, "it is at a level which is one of the lowest on the planet. " Nevertheless, he believes that "rather than procrastinating about the fact that it might or might not be" a second wave, "we should rather prepare for it".
"It is very important to be able to detect all the clusters at the root," he continues, after having stressed the importance of wearing a mask in public transport and confined spaces. On the management of a possible second wave, Antoine Flahault evokes Australia, which has decided to reconfigure Melbourne after the emergence of new sources of contamination. "We will see with Australia which is fighting with a winter wave of" coronavirus "which seems difficult", says the epidemiologist. "For the moment, they are holding out," he said. "And it will be interesting to see how they held up, because it will be a lesson for us." Indeed, in his interview, Jérôme Salomon mentioned the hypothesis of a second wave "this fall or this winter".