Covid-19 in France: concern after the detection of new "clusters" in the Southwest

We must remain vigilant. The health authorities of New Aquitaine launched Saturday, May 9 this call after the appearance of two epidemic outbreaks of coronavirus, one in Dordogne after a funeral and another in a college in Vienne after a meeting to prepare for the start of the school year

A college and a funeral

In Vienne, a cluster "appeared 2 or 3 days ago in a college" where "professionals had gathered to prepare for the start of the academic year on May 18", said the director general of ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine Michel Laforcade.

Consequence: the return to school was postponed to May 27 in this establishment, the Gérard-Philipe college in Chauvigny, one of the largest in the department (around 800 students) where four team members tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday and Saturday and nine others, including management and local authority staff, placed in the fortnight, according to the rectorate of Poitiers and the management of the establishment.

In the Dordogne, an "proven" family cluster was identified, after the organization of funerals at the end of April in the small village of Eglise-Neuve-de-Vergt, near Périgueux.

In this department, the "situation has been brought under control in a week" around this center which "should not have an impact on this department", little affected by the epidemic, like the others in this region, underlined Michel Laforcade .

[Press point # COVID19] “Strict compliance with health regulations will be essential at the time of deconfinement to limit the occurrence of complex situations. We must redouble our vigilance ”M. Laforcade, DG ARS NA

But a few days before the deconfinement, the health agency reiterated its call for "citizen responsibility to ensure the strictest respect for barrier gestures"

"Life is restarting but not as before",

"It should especially not that in the head of some people, this deconfinement leads to a relaxation," insisted Michel Laforcade, the day after a first development of the prefect.

"We have to be very very vigilant, life is restarting but not as before," recalled the representative of the State in the Dordogne, Frédéric Périssat.

"It really illustrates what we do not want to experience in the three weeks (...): relaxation, family reunions, children, grandchildren, grandparents, neighbors-neighbors ... We finds himself in his thirties and, in the end, only one person will contaminate a very significant number and behind, it will mobilize many people "in screenings, he denounced.

According to France Bleu Périgord, the ceremony in tribute to the deceased, aged 51, (who did not die from the coronavirus) was held in church according to the rules, without exceeding 20 people. But later, at the cemetery and then at a family gathering, the number of participants would have been greater, according to the radio.

A few days later, a relative who had attended the funeral was found positive after a test prescribed on April 30 by a doctor from Vergt.

[Press point # COVID19] “I salute the exceptional work of the doctor from the Vergt MSP who made it possible to quickly organize an extended screening of contact persons. This collective mobilization is the key to success ”M. Laforcade, DG ARS NA

Alerted, the ARS then set in motion the "usual tracing procedure" of contact cases by "concentric circles": family and professional environment, but also funeral directors and hospital staff at home of the deceased whose wife is a carrier of the virus, detailed Michel Laforcade.

In total, nine people, including eight in this family, were positive on the first 103 analyzes completed from the 127 people tested, said the ARS. All isolated, the Covid-positive show little or no symptoms. Among those tested, three family members came from Switzerland and Portugal to attend the funeral.

This ant work to go up the chain of transmission is a "research which takes a lot of energy, people sometimes express themselves the first time, sometimes not always", noted Michel Laforcade.

With AFP

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