Over 300 drowning accidents in one month

More than 300 accidental drownings, including 79 fatal, occurred in France between early June and early July, said Public Health France on Tuesday, which is alarmed by these high figures and calls for vigilance.

Between June 1 and July 5, the 2021 drowning investigation by the health agency listed 314 "documented accidental drownings" resulting in 79 deaths, according to preliminary results.

This is a "high" number which represents, when compared to a survey carried out in 2018 over the same period, an increase of 22% for accidental drownings, and 58% of deaths.

In 2020, the drowning accidents recorded between early June and early August (therefore two full months) had fallen by around 20% compared to previous years, a decrease that Public Health France attributed to the closure of swimming pools due to Covid- 19 and less frequentation of bathing places.

"A significant reduction in physical activity"

These accidents occurred in 2021 "in the context of the lifting of the restrictive measures deployed for the management of the Covid epidemic", notes SpF.

Measures which "have resulted in particular in a significant reduction in physical activity and weight gain resulting in a probable deterioration in the physical condition of the population".

The increase in drownings "could therefore be partially linked to a poor apprehension of physical capacities or to a deterioration in the state of health at the end of a long period of reduced activity", analyzes SpF.

Most affected are young children and the elderly

It calls for "strengthening prevention of the risk of drowning at all ages, by insisting on the gradual resumption of physical activity, including swimming".

The age groups most affected by these accidents are children aged 0 to 5 (21% of drownings) and people aged 65 and over (25%).

The accidents were most numerous at sea (143).

This is followed by private family swimming pools (61), rivers and streams (45), and bodies of water such as lakes (33).