INTERVIEW
The "exponential" increase - according to the term of the Directorate General of Health - in the number of coronavirus contaminations in France increases the probability of a second epidemic wave a little more each day. More than 7,000 new cases of infection were recorded by health authorities between Thursday and Friday, a figure never reached since deconfinement. "We can still stop the worsening of the situation, that said there will be difficult times", warns at the microphone of Europe 1 the geneticist Axel Kahn for whom the current situation, "without being dramatic, is extremely serious".
"It's inside that the contaminations are made"
This scientist cites the re-entry "in companies and at school", but also "the arrival of frost" as two risky moments, and during which the French will have to be particularly vigilant to limit damage. With the cold, "we are less outside and more inside, but it is inside that this contamination occurs", recalls Axel Kahn. "It is therefore important to put yourself in a position to increase the means of defenses while we are entering a possibly cool September, the months of October and November in autumn. We must succeed in passing this period. . It is the period of all dangers! "
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In his eyes, the generalization of the wearing of a mask, which can be observed in a growing number of cities in France, at school and in the workplace, makes sense in the face of the coming period. "It is not completely foolish to wear a mask all the time. Before it became compulsory in Paris, I could forget it, I put it in my pocket, put it back on my nose, take it off ... If by chance there were viruses on the mask, I didn't care about it everywhere! ", explains Axel Kahn, signatory in July of a platform demanding compulsory wearing at least in interior spaces. "Getting into the habit of putting it on when you leave your home and not taking it off until you get home is probably reasonable security."
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"There is no reason why we cannot develop a vaccine"
This specialist also wants to be reassuring about the evolution of the epidemic over the long term, based on most past health crises, such as the episode of the Spanish flu. "We are not going to live ten years with this epidemic. It is a parenthesis. Major epidemics, even when the vaccine does not exist, do not last more than two years," he says. "Covid is a disease where there are antibodies and a cellular immune response that develops after infection. Generally, healing is parallel to the immune response", also notes the geneticist. "Under these conditions, there is no reason why we cannot develop a vaccine, effective at least for a few months or a year."