Nouvelle-Aquitaine has returned to the alert threshold (50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).
The Bordeaux University Hospital registers around fifteen patients in intensive care, mainly frail or immunocompromised people.
Professor Charles Cazanave is also worried about the epidemic of bronchiolitis in children which arrives very early, and warns of the flu epidemic expected for December.
All indicators are on the rise.
New Aquitaine has returned to the alert threshold (50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) since the start of this week for the coronavirus epidemic.
The circulation of the virus remains contained, however, and it is very variable in the region, with levels ranging from 85 / 100,000 in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, to 25 in the Creuse, passing through 37 in the Gironde.
"The incidence rate is increasing in almost all age groups, except among 20-29 year olds and 40-49 year olds where it remains stable" also notes the ARS.
20 Minutes
interviewed Professor Charles Cazanave, infectious disease specialist in the infectious and tropical diseases department of the Bordeaux University Hospital, to take stock of the situation.
Are you seeing an increase in the epidemic at the Bordeaux University Hospital?
Yes, there are now around thirty patients at the CHU, it is much less than the peak that we have seen, but it is going back.
We have about fifteen patients in reaction, mainly with fragile or immunocompromised people, that is to say vaccinated but who have not responded to the vaccine because of their impaired immune defense.
As long as the virus circulates, it is the most fragile who will be victims, despite the vaccine.
It's not that it doesn't work, it's that their immune system is so weak that it can't react.
This is why those around them must be vaccinated.
Did you expect this epidemic recovery?
We hit the bottom of the wave at the beginning of October, and we suspected that it would resume.
Even though we have an overall vaccination coverage of 85% [81% in Nouvelle-Aquitaine], the virus continues to circulate.
It's background noise, and you have to learn to live with this virus that is there.
Can we speak of a relaxation of barrier gestures, and is it also responsible for this rebound?
In the long term, it is difficult to apply barrier gestures in the general population, as strictly as before.
There is a little slack, but that's human nature.
On the other hand, you can oblige yourself to wash your hands regularly, and put the mask back on when you are symptomatic, which concerns all respiratory viruses.
But the topical subject, this remains the third dose for those over 65 and those at risk, because we know that after several months the antibodies drop.
However, collective immunity must be retained to protect the weakest.
Is there a reason to fear an outbreak this winter?
With the Covid-19 it's very hard to make predictions, but an outbreak, I do not believe it.
A recovery, why not.
On the other hand, what we are likely to see, and which we did not see last winter, are the other respiratory syndromes, primarily the flu.
It will gain momentum in December, hence the interest for people at risk of getting vaccinated.
We also know in pediatric medicine an epidemic of bronchiolitis.
Does it start very early by the way?
As usual with epidemics, we are monitoring the southern hemisphere, and they are experiencing a fairly unprecedented episode of bronchiolitis.
We ourselves already have a lot of them when it is only October 26th, indeed, and this is unrelated to the end of the mask in schools.
We have a very large number of pediatric emergencies, and many hospitalizations in our departments.
Even if it is for short deadlines, it is a tension, especially as our adult emergencies are also saturated, for various reasons.
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