• If the incidence rate is still very high, in Hérault, the epidemic is declining.

    On Monday, it was 527 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

    A week earlier, it was 597.

  • At the hospital, too, the tension is decreasing: on Tuesday, there were 37 patients hospitalized due to Covid-19 at the Montpellier University Hospital, against 50 on March 1.

  • The ARS calls however to remain vigilant, because the virus is still circulating.

We would almost tend to forget that the Covid-19 is still raging.

And yet, the incidence rate is still well above the alert threshold (50), in almost all French departments (except in Guyana and Mayotte).

In the Hérault, as in most areas of the southern half of France, the trend is however downward.

On Monday, the incidence rate in the department was 527 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, over the last seven days.

A week earlier, it was 597.

“Since the end of January, we have had an uninterrupted decline, confides Alexandre Pascal, the departmental director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) in Hérault.

But we had climbed very, very high.

“Up to an incidence rate of 3,700, a figure that had never been reached in previous waves.

“To give you an idea, during the fourth wave, which had been particularly virulent [in the Hérault], in July and August, we had risen to 620”, continues Alexandre Pascal.

Tension in the hospital down, too

Another indicator is also down: the positivity rate.

In Hérault, 18.8% of people who got tested were positive, according to the latest figure available on Monday.

A fall of fifteen points, compared to the end of January, when the positivity rate had exceeded 32% in the department.

At Montpellier hospital, the tension is also gradually receding.

On Tuesday, there were 37 patients hospitalized due to Covid-19, including 16 in critical care, against 50 on March 1, indicates Jacques Reynes, the head of the infectious diseases department.

His service remains impacted.

“But it is certain that for the other services, he continues, it is a relief.

This allows you to return to a more or less normal activity.

»

“We must remain vigilant”

But why is the hospital huffing, when incidence rates are still so high?

"The Omicron variant is very contagious, but, visibly, less virulent, so, inevitably, it works," explains Alexandre Pascal.

But above all, it is the vaccination that makes all the difference, for the representative of the ARS in the Hérault.

"We have a vaccination rate which is very high, and we know that the vaccine reduces the risk of serious forms", continues Alexandre Pascal.

Two factors that mean that the tension in the hospital is much lower than in previous waves.

But if we drop the mask, vigilance is always required.

“We can see the relaxation of health measures as good news, but we must remain vigilant, the virus is still circulating”, confides Alexandre Pascal.

Jacques Reynes, for his part, says he is “relatively optimistic”.

“We are on a downward curve”, confides the doctor, who however calls on the very elderly, immunocompromised or suffering from comorbidities to continue to “wear a mask, in closed places, where they cannot ensure that people around them are not contaminated”.

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  • Languedoc Roussillon

  • Society

  • Coronavirus

  • Montpellier

  • Covid-19

  • epidemic

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