Like a breath of fresh air before spring, the news was eagerly awaited: since Monday March 14, everywhere, or almost, the mask has been taken off, the vaccination pass has been suspended and the restrictive measures linked to the crisis have been considerably eased.
A choice made by the government in the face of the reduction in the number of hospitalizations and admissions to critical care. And maintained despite the slight uptick in cases over the past week.
Fewer hospitalizations but…
As of March 13, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region lists 2,204 hospitalizations in progress due to Covid-19. After hospitalization, 75,813 patients are back at home.
In all the departments of our region, the number of hospitalizations had begun a downward curve, relieving critical care services and hospital emergencies, but for the past few days, this decline seems to have stalled. In Ain and Rhône, the figures are even slightly on the rise.
The decline in intensive care
There are still a hundred patients hospitalized in intensive care units in the region, but on this front, the trend is optimistic. While more contagious, the Omicron subvariant causes less severe forms.
Contaminations are on the rise again
While the restrictions are easing, it is the curve of the contamination figures that worries again: the number of people tested positive is rising again at the national level. Over the past seven days, more than 65,250 daily contaminations have been recorded, compared to 50,646 last Sunday.
If this incidence rate seems to be maintained for the moment in our region, it is registering an upward tremor in the departments of the Rhône de l’Ain.
In the Rhône, the incidence rate had reached its lowest level for several months on March 4, thus pointing to 336. After stabilizing for a few days, it increased to reach 358 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest data. of Public Health France stopped on March 10.
In the Loire, the coronavirus continues to circulate, observing a small rebound in recent days to reach an incidence rate of 281 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over one week.
Remember that the alert rate is 50 cases per 100,000. A threshold largely exceeded for a long time.
A resumption of the epidemic controllable or uncontrollable?
The end of barrier gestures could well accelerate a resumption of the epidemic, as feared by the Institut Pasteur in a report published on March 10:
“The loosening of control measures should further push up transmission rates. We are therefore exploring scenarios where, from March 14, transmission rates become 50%-130% higher than January-February levels. » analyze the scientists of the Institute.
“The epidemic is not over. We are indeed in the fifth wave which continues, there is an increase in cases it is clear, but this one seems to us to be controllable”, affirmed this Monday morning the president of the Scientific Council, Professor Jean-François Delfraissy,
With more than 30% of the population already infected and high vaccination coverage, will the level of collective immunity be sufficient to prevent a new wave of contamination?