Within the intensive care unit of Toulouse University Hospital.

(illustration) -

F. Scheiber / SIPA

  • According to the Regional Health Agency, 61 hospitalizations, including 26 in intensive care, on September 1, the hospital services of Occitania counted this October 23 1,045 hospitalized Covid-19 patients, including 219 in intensive care.

  • At Toulouse University Hospital, doctors fear that within three weeks, the number of hospitalizations and serious cases will have doubled.

  • The “challenge” is to manage to lower the rate of reproduction of the virus, in particular through barrier measures and curfews.

Since September 1, there have been as many hospitalizations and deaths of patients with Covid-19 at the Toulouse University Hospital as during the first wave.

This Friday, 133 people were hospitalized there, including 24 in intensive care and 11 in intensive care.

At the regional level, "in one month Occitanie has gone from 200 to 600 new hospitalizations per week", indicates this Friday the Regional Health Agency in its weekly bulletin.

From 161 hospitalizations, including 26 in intensive care, on September 1, the hospital services counted 1,045 Covid-19 hospitalized patients on October 23, including 219 in the intensive care unit, or more than eight times more.

Since Tuesday alone, 42 new deaths are to be deplored in the regional territory.

[#Coronavirus] Rapid worsening of epidemic indicators in #Occitanie.

Fighting together against the # Covid19 virus means acting as a barrier to it through our behavior, by strengthening our protections everywhere and on a daily basis.


📌 Check out the latest @ARS_OC recap: pic.twitter.com/YVkdQczh9y

- ARS Occitanie (@ARS_OC) October 23, 2020

"An increasing trend, the tension is higher than last week, especially since, unlike last spring, we are not in a similar situation, the operations are not all unscheduled", indicates Béatrice Riu-Poulenc, head of the intensive care unit at Purpan hospital.

For the moment, saturation has not been reached, thanks to coordinated management at the regional level, in particular with sector hospitals and private clinics.

And a decrease since the curfew of people victims of road accidents at night or trauma due to fights, in particular.

Lower the reproduction rate

“In normal times, outside the epidemic, 80% of intensive care beds are occupied.

There, nearly 45% of intensive care beds in Occitania are occupied by Covid-19 patients, which can only create complexity.

We are concerned, and we sometimes have the impression that the general population is not, ”continues Muriel Alvarez, infectious disease specialist at Toulouse University Hospital.

For the time being, the curfew measure, which entered into force last week in the Toulouse metropolitan area, has not been felt on health services.

If it is well respected, “we must also ask ourselves what is happening during the day.

If people catch up between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., it's not great, ”continues the hospital practitioner from the infectious diseases department.

During confinement, it had taken two weeks to three weeks to see the upward curve in Haute-Garonne reach a plateau.

But for now, the scenarios do not bode well.

The rate of reproduction of the virus is currently 1.25 in Toulouse, an infected person infects an average of 1.25.

“If it stays at this level, within three weeks we will see a doubling of severe cases and hospitalizations.

The whole point of the curfew is to lower it to 1 or less than 1, which would allow us to reach a plateau, ”concludes Béatrice Riu-Poulenc.

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