The department of Savoie is today the most affected in France by the coronavirus.
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PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP
Relatively spared during the first wave, Savoie is now the department most affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
There are, however, hardly any rational explanations to understand the massive influx of patients registered in Savoyard hospitals.
Tourism and summer vacationers were put out of the question as the situation remained calm until mid-September.
“Rational” explanations?
There is hardly any.
Savoie, relatively spared last spring and at the start of the second wave of coronavirus in the territory, is now the French department most affected by the epidemic.
With 1,167 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants, it has an incidence rate 2.5 times higher than the national average.
448 patients have been received in Savoy hospitals in recent weeks against 127 at the height of the first wave.
That is almost 3.5 times more.
The sudden influx of patients remains an enigma, however.
"We are at the top of the charts and we would like to have a rational and obvious explanation," sighs Dr Olivier Rogeaux, infectious disease specialist at the Center hospitalier Métropole Savoie (CHMS, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains).
Summer vacationers exonerated
“We have a semi-rural population;
our over 65s are in rather good shape and compared to Alsace which had been hit hard, we are less obese, diabetic, hyper-tense ”, remembers Dr Emmanuel Forestier, chef from the infectious disease department at the CHMS.
And to underline, perplexed,: “Since then, our population has not changed”.
Tourism and summer vacationers were put out of the question as the situation remained calm until mid-September.
And the ski resorts haven't opened yet.
So infectiologists put forward a set of clues: a "regional effect" because the virus circulates strongly in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The department is also close to the canton of Geneva where the incidence rate reaches more than 2,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Moreover, Haute-Savoie, directly adjacent to Switzerland, follows Savoy at the top of the ranking (1,146 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).
Barrier gestures too ignored?
The “flaws” identified are above all the lack of respect for barrier gestures with family or friends and during breaks at work.
“The first wave did little damage here.
So people are minimizing the severity of the infection, when the death toll is already higher, ”recalls Dr Rogeaux.
By comparison, "Northern Italy has a strong trauma and barrier gestures are better applied".
Even within the regional unit of Public Health France, meeting Tuesday afternoon, we have no explanations.
"The situation in Savoie cannot be explained at this stage by significant specificities", confides the Savoie delegate from the Regional Health Agency (ARS), Loïc Mollet.
Faced with a "very strong increase in patients", Dr Philippe Dalmon, crisis medical director, does not make research into the "why" his priority.
For him, what matters is "the" how "we are going to face this wave".
"We are really in the hard, the hospital is under high tension and at the maximum of its capacities", agrees the general manager of the establishment Florent Chambaz.
Patient transfers
The organizational lessons of spring combined with better knowledge of the coronavirus, however, made it possible to anticipate better.
From 18, the resuscitation beds were increased to 41, thanks to the deprogramming of operations.
Above all, patient transfers make it possible to keep beds available.
Thus, six patients left last week in Saintes and Nancy, two Monday in Bordeaux and four Tuesday in Nantes.
"It is likely that there will be more this week and next week", concludes the representative of the ARS.
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