The Christmas holiday in France is fast approaching, an opportunity to take stock of the situation of the fifth wave of Covid-19 that is severely affecting France and Pyrénées-Orientales.
Explosion rate
Infection rate increased nearly fivefold in three weeks. As of November 22, there were 163 cases of Covid per 100,000 inhabitants. On December 16, it rose to 729. A record since the beginning of the epidemic, in March 2020. The fifth wave of the epidemic is clearly confirmed and children are also affected. Among children under the age of 10, the incidence is around 845 (the numbers for the week of December 6-12).
Level 4 white level activated
In the face of the epidemic outbreak, ARS decided to revitalize Level 4 of the white plan In public and private hospitals in the Occitanie region, this is the highest level. This means canceling programming, postponing all operations that could be, and ordering all medical staff.
Will the epidemic peak soon be reached?
Although covid cases are increasing very rapidly, ARS General Manager, Pierre Ricordio, wants to be somewhat optimistic : “There is a very clear slowdown in the spread of the epidemic. The percentage of tests conducted that come back positive is down just under 7%.”Although the number of offers increased. “However, we haven’t fully reached the peak yet.”Pierre Ricordio warns, “Even if we feel we’re getting close”.