The day before, the World Health Organization (WHO) had sounded the alarm due to the resurgence of the disease caused by the coronavirus SARSCoV2 and its variants in Europe and Asia, repeating with the voice of its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the pandemic is still present and attention to it should not be sidelined.
“We all want to put it behind us, but no matter how much we want it, it’s not over yet,” he warned.
In France, the abolition of hygiene measures was practically fully realized in March, with the end of the mandatory use of the mask indoors, the requirement of the vaccination card as a condition of access to places and contact isolation people for Covid19 cases.
Only on public transport, hospitals and care homes were the measures maintained, while the country reached nearly 80 percent of its population with a full vaccination schedule.
For many, the decision was easily justified by progress in managing the crisis, as daily infections fell to about 50,000 from more than 400,000 in January, the incidence rate fell from 3,500 infected people per 100,000 to less than 600 and the tension in the hospital eased noticeably off.
However, the second half of March presented a worrying picture, supported by the increase in key indicators such as the incidence itself, reproduction (R) and the positivity of the tests used to detect diseases.
According to data from Public Health France, the incidence rate closed yesterday at 937 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the reproduction rate at 1.29, getting further from one, the threshold that tells whether an epidemic is progressing or not, and positivity at 23.2 percent .
As a positive element, the number of patients hospitalized by Covid19, an indicator that has stagnated in recent days, and the number of patients treated in intensive care, which have progressed positively without setbacks, has continued to decrease to 1,564, after they had moved four thousand in midJanuary.
Health Minister Olivier Véran warned of the surge in infections that the outlook was complicated until the end of March and then improving, for which he ruled out a return to restrictions.
The day before, the government first admitted it could resume measures such as making mask use compulsory indoors, a position President Emmanuel Macron had revealed to the M6 channel.
“I will be very transparent: if things get worse, I will do everything to protect the French adequately,” he insisted, just over two weeks before the presidential elections, in which he will seek another five years at the Elysée Palace.
Macron denied that the easing of restrictions was linked to the election date and insisted on his priority of “protecting compatriots”.
The controversy has been served, and experts including epidemiologists Catherine Hill and Yves Buisson have warned of the impact of lifting the measures and the lesser attention people are paying to the pandemic these days.
We lifted the barrier measures like using the mask and vaccination card too soon, Buisson appreciated, confirming that Covid19 is far from over.
For her part, the infectologist AnneClaude Crémieux told the Franceinfo chain that one should not waste time on SARSCoV2.
We must act quickly, we have gained ground from one wave of infections to another and now we must not lose it, he said.
jcm/wmr