Coronavirus: Where are we in Ile-de-France?

Illustration: Passers-by wear a mask on May 11, 2020 in Paris.

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"Succeed in living with the virus without letting ourselves be drawn into a logic of generalized confinement" ... This is now the watchword of the executive, at least that of Prime Minister Jean Castex announced last Friday, following the advice of defense.

Not so simple in Ile-de-France where Sars-CoV-2, responsible for Covid-19, is actively circulating again and where testing capacities are saturated.

takes stock.

Spread of the virus

Not surprisingly, the eight departments of Ile-de-France are among the 42 classified red, that is to say in a situation of so-called active circulation of the virus.

If confinement was followed by a net decrease in the use of healthcare for Covid-19, recalls Public Health France in its last regionalized epidemiological update of September 10, this downward trend was reversed at the end of June.

Since then, the majority of regional epidemiological indicators tend to show an increase in the circulation of the virus in Ile-de-France.

“In week 36 [from August 31 to September 6], the incidence rate - that is to say the number of patients having a positive RT-PCR test - now exceeds 100 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Ile- de-France, against 93.3 the previous week, still specifies the ARS.

Only seven departments in France today exceed this threshold, four are in Ile-de-France: Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Paris, and recently Seine-Saint-Denis now exceed this incidence rate of 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

As a reminder, the alert threshold is 50 and the national incidence rate is now 72.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The 20-30 age group remains the most affected age group with an incidence rate exceeding 150 / 100,000 inhabitants in all the Ile-de-France departments.

Ile-de-France is also above the national average for the positivity rate, i.e. the number of positive tests compared to the number of PCR tests carried out in general.

This rate is 7%, when it is 5.3% in France and the attention threshold is set at 5%.

Finally, the last indicator in the red: that of clusters.

Also in week 36, Public Health France counted 56 clusters under investigation, against 45 a week earlier.

Two thirds of these clusters concern professional circles, social accommodation and integration establishments and health establishments.

The instructions in force

The passage of a department in the red zone gives the prefect reinforced powers.

From limiting travel within a radius of 100 km or within a department or town, to banning gatherings or even the partial or complete closure of establishments open to the public.

In Ile-de-France, this has resulted, since August 28, by the obligation to wear a mask throughout Paris and the inner suburbs (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) for all pedestrians circulating in public spaces.

In Essonne, in Yvelines or in Seine-et-Marne, the mask was already compulsory this summer in markets, fairs, flea markets and garage sales or even in outdoor events open to the public.

It is now also around stations and schools.

Finally, in Val-d'Oise, where the virus is circulating very actively, the prefect has made it compulsory, since last Thursday, to wear a mask in all public spaces in cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants.

So much for the main coercive measure in Ile-de-France, in addition to those which apply at the national level, such as the compulsory wearing of a mask in closed public places, since July 20.

Increase testing capacity

This is one of the big challenges in Ile-de-France.

In its September 10 point, the ARS noted that the screening rate stabilized in Ile-de-France during the week of August 31 to September 6, remaining below the 1,500 tests carried out per 100,000 inhabitants.

"The analysis laboratories are clearly close to their maximum analysis capacity, since the delays between the date of sampling and the date of reporting of results are lengthening", notes Public Health France in its September 10 point.

Is the same for monitoring the epidemic in Ile-de-France?

"For the first time in six weeks, the incidence rate has slowed down at the regional level, but also in each of the departments, except in Val-d'Oise", indicates Public Health France still in connection with week 36. This could be seen as a sign that the virus is losing ground in the Paris region.

"This deceleration could be partially linked to the stagnation of the rate of patients tested", advances the national agency cautiously.

"At the end of June, we were doing 45,000 tests per week, today we are at 220,000 and we intend to maintain this quantitative effort", indicated, Friday, at

, the director of the regional health agency of Ile-de- France, Aurélien Rousseau.

As such, twenty screening centers installed in barnums will be deployed from this week in the eight departments of Ile-de-France.

“The activity will be exclusively dedicated to virological RT-PCR tests.

They will perform 

500 tests per day and will operate 6 days a week from 8 am to 7 pm until the end of the winter period, specifies the ARS Ile-de-France on its website.

The tests will be carried out without an appointment, but with time slots entirely dedicated to priority audiences.

These twenty barnums, therefore brought to relieve the laboratories, should remain open at least until Christmas.

And tomorrow ?

Should we expect new coercive measures in Ile-de-France in the coming weeks?

On Friday, Jean Castex recalled the importance of having "territorial responses adapted to local situations, and not" decisions emanating only from Paris ".

Words that further consolidate the role of prefects in the fight against Covid-19.

The Prime Minister is also expecting this Monday “new additional measures” from the prefects in the territories marked by “a worrying development of contamination”.

Jean Castex cited Marseille, Bordeaux and La Guadeloupe.

Not Ile-de-France then, at least not yet.

The closure of bars and restaurants at 11 p.m., as was once decided in the Bouches-du-Rhône, could come back on the carpet.

On August 26 in any case, the government spokesman, Gabriel Atal, did not exclude it.

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