Illustration of Lyon city hall, opposite the Opera.

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E. Frisullo / 20 Minutes

  • The Rhône, under reinforced surveillance, will he have to face a new turn of the screw from the government?

  • To get an idea before the announcements expected Thursday, "20 Minutes" once again looked at the data scrutinized by the authorities to decide.

  • The prefect of the Rhône, who has left nothing filtered on a possible tightening of measures from next weekend, however, since last Friday has been consulting elected officials and local economic players on the issue.

For nearly a week, the question has been on everyone's minds in the Rhône, where the threat of weekend confinement hovers, as in 19 other departments placed under enhanced surveillance.

If in the Drôme, also concerned, the prefect has already announced that there will be no confinement on weekends, in the Rhône, the representative of the State was careful not to pronounce on the subject, leaving the Prime Minister to speak.

But since last Friday, Pascal Mailhos continues meetings with local elected officials and the business world to consult them on possible measures that could be implemented.

On the eve of the expected government announcements,

20 Minutes

once again scrutinized the Covid-19 monitoring indicators which guide the authorities in their decision-making to measure whether the department can escape a tightening of health restrictions.

A high but stable incidence rate

To answer this question, several data reflecting the evolution of the health situation must be taken into account.

Size indicator, the disease incidence rate, which indicates the evolution of the virus among the population, has significantly increased in the Rhône, according to the latest figures released by Public Health France.

This rate fell from 221.4 cases the week of February 14 to 20 to 234.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the sliding week of February 21 to 27.

But this rate (of 221.7 cases nationally) seems to have stabilized again in recent days and remains lower than the incidence rates currently recorded in certain departments in the north or south of France.

By way of comparison, it currently stands at 562 cases in the Alpes Maritimes, confined at weekends, and 405 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Pas-de-Calais.

The majority British variant

In hospitals, where the occupancy of beds by Covid-19 patients is closely monitored, the figures are increasing significantly at the level of the department but are stagnating in the establishments managed by the Hospices Civils de Lyon.

In the Rhône, the number of coronavirus patients admitted to hospital increased from 813 to 841 in one week, with 173 people in intensive care, or 19 more over seven days.

At the Lyon University Hospital, the number of hospitalizations and intensive care reception linked to Covid-19 had not changed on Tuesday, according to figures communicated by the HCL.

The analysis of these data therefore always confirms a slow evolution of the epidemic in the department, even if since the beginning of the year, the indicators remain at a high level, similar to that observed in mid-October before the second confinement.

The share of variants in contaminations, and in particular the British which today represents 50% of infections in the Rhône, also worries the health authorities.

Because the variant is more contagious and therefore likely to skyrocket the incidence rate of the virus in the population, still few in number to have received one of the vaccines against Covid-19.

Should we limit the number of people on the quays?

If the Rhône, among the least affected by the signs of an epidemic rebound in the twenty departments placed under reinforced surveillance, escaped containment at the weekend, other measures could be taken locally.

The crowded places that attracted people last weekend again with the return of good weather, like the Saône quays, could in particular see their access restricted.

“I prefer that we analyze the situation, including with elected officials, that we can give a certain number of vigilance and precautionary advice rather than decide on our own that we close the docks.

There are releases, but they do not justify that even before the consultation, I unilaterally decide to take measures that I had not announced, indicated the prefect of the Rhône Pascal Mailhos, interviewed Tuesday at the JT of France 3. But

I do not exclude doing it if necessary, depending on the decisions of the government ”.

New restrictions or not, in the Rhône as elsewhere, the return to a “more normal” life mentioned on Wednesday by government spokesman Gabriel Attal “maybe for mid-April” still seems a long way off.

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