This Thursday, December 10 at 6 p.m., Prime Minister Jean Castex will take the floor to take stock of the health situation and deconfinement. Will the French be able to move freely again from December 15 as announced by the President of the Republic on November 24? Nothing is less sure. And for good reason: Emmanuel Macron had specified that the alleviation of the confinement could only take place if the number of daily contaminations fell below the 5,000 mark.
But 5 days from the deadline, the target has not been reached. "Despite the efforts that have been made, we have not arrived at the figures that we would have liked. We got there with resuscitation, however, the number of new infections remains high. We are on a plateau, we do not see no drop or massive increase ", highlighted Wednesday, December 9 on BFMTV Karine Lacombe, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris.
Covid-19: the third wave is "inevitable" according to some experts
A reality that could have consequences on the easing of the confinement planned for December 15, but also on the evolution of the health situation in France. Karine Lacombe fears the arrival of a third wave of the Covid-19 epidemic in early January, after the end of the year celebrations. "I do not see how, currently, we can avoid a third wave, especially since we have not yet launched the vaccination campaign which can only be the only positive factor that can really influence the evolution of the epidemic ", she explains.
What could this third wave of the coronavirus epidemic look like? "We hope that it will be small, because we will maintain pressure on the dynamics of the epidemic", explains Karine Lacombe. But "the question we are asking ourselves and which no one can predict at the moment is the intensity of this third wave", she adds.
A rebound in the coronavirus epidemic at Christmas?
Other specialists also fear this third wave. This is particularly the case of emergency doctor Patrick Pelloux. "The containment has not stopped the epidemic (…) There will almost inevitably be a third wave", he explained on LCI this Thursday, December 10.
Professor Éric Caumes, head of the infectious diseases department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, also agrees: "If we are not reasonable on Christmas or New Year's Eve, there will be a rebound. You have to be very vigilant. It can result in a third wave with a certain delay ", he said on LCI Monday 7 December. So many reasons to be extra vigilant during the end of year celebrations.
Read also :
⋙ Deconfinement: what are the avenues envisaged after December 15?
⋙ Covid-19: should you get tested before meeting your family at Christmas?
⋙ Covid-19: will there be a third wave? Olivier Véran answers