• A new containment has been decreed in Martinique for at least the next three weeks. 

  • This is the result of a catastrophic epidemic outbreak, linked in particular to a low vaccination rate.

  • The rest of the French Antilles could quickly be affected.

It's a word we don't like to hear: confinement.

The Martinicans will still have to undergo one for at least three weeks from Friday.

Islanders will have to stay at home between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. and during the day, a certificate will be required to move more than 10 km away from home.

Restaurants and gyms in particular are closing, but not most businesses.

In Guadeloupe, a curfew has also been introduced. 

20 Minutes

sought to know how such an epidemic outbreak could take place in the French West Indies.

What is the situation ?

Since the start of the pandemic, rarely will a French territory have had to deal with an epidemic outbreak as violent as the one Martinique is experiencing. The incidence rate (the number of cases per 100,000 people) reaches 995. The rate is even 2.501 for the 20-29 age group. "The progression in Martinique has been made gradually since the 20-29 years and it has gradually been transmitted to the elderly ... and hospitalizations are gradually increasing", explains to

20 Minutes

the doctor specializing in epidemiology of the collective "On the side of the science ", Michaël Rochoy. The slope is very steep in intensive care: only a third of the places were occupied by Covid patients at the very beginning of July ... A rate which rose to 115% on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the French Antilles, confinement is being avoided for the moment, but for how long?

In Guadeloupe, the incidence rate is “only” 290 and the hospital pressure at 76%, but that is probably just the beginning: the reproduction rate is 2.64 on the island (i.e. - say that 10 contaminated in turn contaminate on average more than 26 people).

In Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélémy the incidence rate exceeds 1,700 for the entire population.

This figure is "inflated" by the fact that they are two small islands.

The French part of Saint-Martin has 38,000 inhabitants (ten times less than Martinique) when Saint-Barthélémy has 9,000.

But who says small island, says small hospital capacities on the spot ...

Why such an outbreak?

"There are absolutely no surprises with the Covid-19", says, bluntly, Michaël Rochoy.

Whether you are in Martinique, the rest of the West Indies, or elsewhere, it is always the same thing: "The virus is transmitted by air, at a time when many people are in the same place, at a higher rate. reason in an enclosed place.

In short, moments without a mask in an enclosed space.

However, that does not explain such an outbreak.

What changes in the case of Martinique is the massive incidence rate: "The higher the incidence, the more easily we are trapped during these '' small errors ''".

In short: when the virus circulates more, there is a greater chance of being contaminated, it is mathematical.

The exponential increases come from there.

Where is vaccination in the West Indies?

All the effects described above are multiplied in the face of a population with little or no vaccination, which is the case in the West Indies. While nationwide, now, 50% of the population displays a complete vaccination schedule, in Martinique, according to

Ouest-France

, only 15.6% of the population is. In other French territories in the sector, the figures are consistent. However, the islands would have received their dose quotas like the other departments: "It is not the means that are lacking, but the confidence," says André Chabié, infectious disease specialist at the CHU of Fort-de-France in

Ouest-France

.

According to the expert, the health scandal of chlordecone, a toxic product used in banana plantations when it was already banned elsewhere in France, could not be unrelated to a very significant mistrust of the population, despite a quivering of appointment bookings. you like everywhere since the announcements of Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of the month.

Martinicans "fear being manipulated once again", adds the infectious disease specialist.

Health

State of emergency declared in Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélémy, announces Gabriel Attal

Society

A new three-week confinement imposed from Friday in Martinique

  • West Indies

  • Health

  • Covid 19

  • Martinique

  • Coronavirus

  • Confinement

  • Guadeloupe