La Timone hospital, Marseille, end of September 2020 (illustration) -
PHILIPPE MAGONI / SIPA
Are the figures from Public Health France on the number of hospitalizations of patients with Covid-19 really reliable?
This is, in essence, the question raised by certain Internet users and Marion Maréchal since the publication of an article by
Nice-Matin
highlighting a difference between the figures in the field in the Alpes-Maritimes and those of the health organization.
20 Minutes
takes stock of these accounting differences, which can be explained in particular by the inclusion of certain categories of additional patients by Public Health France.
Has the decision to extend the curfew to 6 p.m. throughout France to fight Covid-19 been taken on the basis of overestimated hospitalization figures compared to the real occupancy rate of establishments?
This is what Marion Maréchal has been supporting for several days, citing our colleagues from
Nice-Matin
.
On Saturday January 16, Marine Le Pen's niece tweeted: "Read this incredible article which reveals that the official number of hospitalizations for Covid relayed by Public Health France does not match the figures on the ground in the Alpes-Maritimes and probably throughout the France.
"
Then, on January 18, she mentioned on Cnews a difference of a national nature: “An interesting survey made by
Nice-Matin
showed that the figures of Public Health France of hospitalizations, those on which the government is based to make decisions , were figures which were not the same as those of the field, of the CHU.
"
“There is an interesting survey by @Nice_Matin which shows that the hospitalization figures of Public Health France, on which the government is based, are not the same as the field, and we are going from simple to triple!
»#MorandiniLive # COVID19 https://t.co/dPsbTEjAas pic.twitter.com/ctY7BZXL0e
- Marion Maréchal (@MarionMarechal) January 18, 2021
“We realize that the figures used are much more alarming than reality.
For example, in these figures are counted in Covid hospitalization people who return with a heart problem, are then tested positive and put in Covid hospitalization even though they do not even have symptoms ”she continued.
FAKE OFF
The
Nice-Matin
article does
indeed mention "significant discrepancies" between the data of Public Health France and those of "field actors", while specifying not to seek to "minimize the extent of the epidemic or its severity. , while the virus continues to circulate actively on the territory ”.
"On January 3, Public Health France counted 564 people hospitalized with a Covid-19 diagnosis in the Alpes-Maritimes department (including 69 in intensive care), when in reality" only "233 patients in total (including 55 in resuscitation) were that day hospitalized in one or the other of the establishments ”, underlined in particular the daily newspaper, before exploring the possible explanations of these differences.
A difference in "scope"
Santé Publique France, which publishes the latest data from the Covid-19 epidemic in France, denies any "error" in accounting at
20 Minutes
and rather refers to "indicators that do not represent the same scope": "The data from CHU de Nice correspond to the number of conventional and intensive care hospitalizations, while our indicator reports the total number of people hospitalized due to Covid, and therefore includes patients in intensive care, intensive care, follow-up care and rehabilitation (SSR ), and in continuous monitoring unit.
"
The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regional Health Agency (ARS) also explains these differences to us by a difference in "scope" between the data collected in SI-VIC, the device used by Public Health France, and those taken. taken into account by hospitals in their local census.
Thus, on January 3 at 6 p.m., SI-VIC resulted in a total of 566 patients hospitalized for Covid-19, including 226 in SSR (patients who no longer have the Covid but are hospitalized for the sequelae of the disease) and 25 in long-term care unit.
Two categories not included in the departmental assessment of the CHU, which therefore amounted, taking into account its sole scope of follow-up, to 315 patients (248 in conventional, 49 in intensive care and 18 in intensive care).
The ARS PACA evokes other elements that could cause discrepancies, such as "duplicates in the entries" (which are the subject of a regular correction) or the inclusion in SI-VIC - as mentioned by Marion Maréchal - of "hospitalized patients declared positive during their stay": "They are probably not in dedicated beds since their positivity is said to be fortuitous and their main diagnosis other than Covid.
They are not referenced in the monitoring of the CHU.
"
"The two follow-ups do not have the same utility"
"Concretely, if a pregnant woman, a person hospitalized for dialysis or a surgical operation is tested positive for Covid-19 during their stay in hospital, they will be recorded in SI-VIC but not in the data of the CHU", confirms Florence Arnoux, PACA regional delegate for the French Hospital Federation (FHF).
“The two follow-ups are correct but they do not have the same usefulness.
The figures listed by the Nice University Hospital at departmental level have an operational aim.
The lifts taken into account in SI-VIC provide a good overview of the beds available in the region.
It is more of a strategic objective, ”she continues.
Reached by
20 Minutes
, Jean-François Cibien, president of the Action Praticiens Hôpital union (APH), indicates “not having seen any differences at the national level between the hospitalization figures communicated by the ARS and the feedback from the field”.
"We work in good understanding with the ARS, they have no interest in giving bad figures, especially as it would be immediately known, the data being the subject of a weekly consolidation", he adds. .
Society
Vaccination in nursing homes: No, consent does not have to be obtained in writing
Media
Report information that you think is false to the "Fake Off" team of "20 Minutes"
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen
Hospital
Nice
Covid 19
Coronavirus
Fake off
Society