The vehicle of the Marseille firefighters to search for Covid-19 in wastewater -

MN / BMPM / ETOURNEAU

  • Two samples are taken per week to analyze the circulation of the virus.

  • The wastewater of 490,000 inhabitants of the Nice metropolis is studied.

  • The winter period is more conducive to the transmission of the virus, according to the director of the city's health security agency.

“There has been a continuous growth in the contamination of Covid-19 wastewater since the start of the analyzes.

All districts of the city are affected, ”announces Romain Gitenet, director of the health, environmental and risk management agency for the metropolis of Nice.

From 4% of the infected population, he estimates that the alert threshold has been reached.

On January 21, this was the case for 8% of the population in the Moulins sector in Nice.

On January 12, the port area was where the same percentage, considered "very high", was detected.

On Wednesday, Christian Estrosi announced the presence of the English variant of the coronavirus in wastewater.

"We locate it in particular in the sectors of Gambetta Ouest, Ouest Ville, and Les Moulins", he specified.

“Sequencing” also organized by a CNRS researcher in Nice in November and December had not found any traces of this variant.

"The winter period explains the strong transmission and circulation of the virus"

From the stools of 490,000 inhabitants in the seventeen municipalities of the metropolis, the Marseille firefighters and the Nice health security agency collect the data necessary to observe the circulation of the virus, twice a week.

"We are in a winter period, a favorable period for the droplets which remain suspended in the air", and therefore for the transmission of Covid-19.

“It is more difficult to ventilate when it's cold, but this shows the importance of respecting barrier gestures,” comments Romain Gitenet.

For him, several other factors allow us to understand this strong contamination at this time.

“The metropolis has borders with Monaco and Italy, which do not have the same rules as us.

People continue to move around and carry the virus.

Then, we have the third airport in France in terms of number of passengers.

It's always more people coming and going.

And that's without counting the attraction for the region, between the sea and the mountains, which induces a lot of movement in the area ”.

"It can't go higher"

For the director of the health security agency, we are entering a period of stagnation.

“Despite a sharp rise in recent weeks, we are entering a period where it is not increasing much.

”It is based on data collected in Marseille for example, where the circulation of the virus in wastewater is lower.

“It turns out, before, the numbers were higher.

It is for this reason that there is a partnership with the region so that each metropolis does this kind of levy.

In this way, we could have a follow-up of all the cities and anticipate.

The circulation of the virus functions as a communicating vessel.

"

Thanks to this technique, the metropolis sends mobile teams to carry out tests in sectors with a very worrying alert threshold to detect infected people as quickly as possible.

Nice

The English variant detected in wastewater in Nice

Nice

The metropolis of Nice calls on experts to prevent disasters

  • Contamination

  • Coronavirus

  • Nice