While we have exceeded 200 cases on French territory (257 according to the latest report) and a fourth patient died on Tuesday March 3, the triggering of stage 3 (out of 3) of the health alert does not never seemed so close. Deciphering the ins and outs of the epidemic phase of the health alert threshold.
Since Friday February 28, France has moved to stage 2 of the coronavirus epidemic. While the purpose of stage 1 was to prevent the virus from entering the territory, this second health level aims to curb the spread of Covid-19. Concretely, the triggering of the second stage led pell-mell to the closure of a hundred schools, the cancellation or postponement of sporting and cultural events, the limitation of public gatherings to 5,000 people and quarantines almost everywhere on the territory.
A plan drawn up in 2011 as a working basis for phase 3
Triggering stage 3 of the epidemic seems inevitable. “I am afraid that it will be difficult to escape the epidemic phase”admitted Sibeth Ndiaye, the government spokesperson, to France info Monday March 2. For that, the virus must circulate throughout the territory whereas currently there are only clusters, that is to say homes of patients in different places. The Directorate General of Health (DGS), which depends on the Ministry of Health, has three: in Oise, Haute-Savoie and Morbihan. However, the number of isolated cases in other regions is increasing every day.
If the epidemic stage is reached, phase 3 will be triggered with the aim of limiting the effects of the epidemic. To draw the outlines of this stage 3, the authorities rely on a Prevention and Control Plan drafted in 2011 in the event of an influenza pandemic. Although the coronavirus has differences, this can serve as a basis for reflection. Constraining restrictions throughout the territory would emerge. The health and hospital system would be fully mobilized, transport could be limited, confinements extended, even more schools closed or even a total ban on public demonstrations.
Case-by-case measures
In hospitals, medical and nursing staff are already preparing for the outbreak of the epidemic phase. Stage 3 would entail the complete mobilization of the hospital and city health system. Care in establishments and screening tests will be reserved for cases deemed serious. The objective is not to saturate hospitalization capacities in health establishments. However, the details of the mobilization will be made according to the evolution of the situation. “These measures could be taken gradually, depending on the situation, with heterogeneity on the territory”we comment on the Ministry of Health.
In France, there are 257 cases of people infected with the coronavirus for 4 deaths. Worldwide, 3,200 deaths and around 92,000 infections. Pending a possible outbreak of phase 3 of the epidemic, the government spokesperson wanted to reassure. “At this stage, there is no epidemic in the medical sense of the termshe measures. We know that the situation is very evolving and therefore, I cannot give definitive statements..”
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