Press conference by Olivier Véran and Arnaud Fontanet on October 1, 2020 in Paris.
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LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
No new strong measures but a stern warning.
The Minister of Health Oliver Véran held a press briefing on the health situation this Thursday evening with Professor Arnaud Fontanet, epidemiologist at the Pasteur Institute and member of the scientific council.
On the menu: lots of curves and maps for a press conference that was meant to be ultra-educational, live from an amphitheater at Bichat hospital in Paris.
Objective: to make the French understand the gravity of the situation and the urgency to adopt protective measures to avoid a new runaway of the coronavirus epidemic.
[🔴 LIVE] Follow @ olivierveran's weekly update live on # COVID19https: //t.co/i1g7wRP399
- Ministry of Solidarity and Health (@MinSoliSante) October 1, 2020
Worrying indicators
With lots of graphics, the minister recalled that the main signs of the epidemic remain at a worrying level.
More than 1,200 people with Covid-19 are currently in intensive care in France, including 135 more in the last 24 hours, according to figures from Public Health France on Wednesday.
Admittedly, the level is much lower than those reached during the peak of the epidemic (7,000 patients in sheaves at the beginning of April), but it is progressing rapidly - there were less than 500 cases in intensive care at the beginning of September.
With 12,845 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in 24 hours, the test positivity rate reached 7.6% against 4% in early September.
"The virus circulates and it circulates quickly" repeated several times Olivier Véran who recalled that "where the number of patients doubled every three days, today, the number of patients doubles every 15 days" and that the very few areas in the country where the virus circulates little.
The minister therefore urged the French to limit their social life and to respect barrier gestures as much as possible, to wear the mask and restrict their social life.
Objective: to limit the circulation of the virus to avoid at all costs a congestion of hospitals and intensive care units while the nursing staff "heroes of the first wave" are too exhausted and insufficient in number to face a similar crisis.
"Your efforts must pay and your efforts will pay"
The minister however recalled that one should be patient and not be discouraged because the first effects of these efforts would only be felt in a fortnight.
“Your efforts must pay off and your efforts will pay off,” Olivier Véran explained.
As such, he referred to the beginnings of improvement in certain cities, where "we are beginning to see a quiver, a beginning of improvement in terms of health, certainly timid".
He quoted "Bordeaux, Nice and even Marseille, even if, let me say it right away, the levels of circulation of the virus there remain very high, too high, and that the health risks and hospital overload are still far too great" .
"It is an encouragement to continue, it is an encouragement to hold," he said.
Monday ax for the capital and its small crown
The capital and its inner suburbs have "crossed the three thresholds which may correspond to the maximum alert zone", said Olivier Véran, specifying that these thresholds had been crossed "for a few hours".
"If this were to be confirmed we would have no other choice but to place Paris and the inner suburbs on maximum alert from Monday," added the minister, indicating that "we will re-examine the data on Sunday".
Such a classification “will suppose that the inhabitants of Paris and the inner suburbs temporarily reduce their social interactions in a drastic way, in any case more important than what they already do: more family celebrations, more parties, total closure of bars ”, he recalled.
The minister also noted a "deterioration" of the situation in "five metropolises, Lille, Lyon, Grenoble, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne", where "the evolution of the last days remains very worrying".
If the measures (of restrictions already taken) do not produce enough effect, we could be led to place them in the maximum alert zone next week ", he warned but, according to him, he" does not " There is no need, to date, to switch these metropolises into a maximum alert zone ”.
An improvement in the situation for testing
"We are the country which tests the most in the world", affirms Olivier Véran, with more than a million tests carried out per week.
The minister once again welcomed the relevance of the massive testing policy put in place by the government, stressing that more than 60% of positive tests are asymptomatic.
According to the minister, "if delays remain long in certain areas, 75% of tests are delivered in less than 48 hours", according to figures from the DREES.
“I am not telling you at all that there are no situations where people wait, queue or have their results too late.
What I want to tell you is that we are doing everything we can to resolve the situations that persist as quickly as possible but that the situation has improved, ”he said.
Consultation around a new protocol in restaurants
After discussions with representatives of the catering sector and the mayors of several large metropolises, “the government will in the coming days examine the proposals made to it and study the possible rules that could allow restaurants, including in areas in maximum alert to remain fully or partly open but with reinforced health rules to limit the risk of contamination as much as possible, ”said Olivier Véran.
"These new rules, if they seem to us sufficiently robust protective, controllable will then be submitted to the High Council of Public Health and if they were validated, they could then apply in all the territories in maximum alert, including Aix Marseille La Guadeloupe de even in Paris, ”said the Minister of Health.
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