This Friday, September 11, Prime Minister Jean Castex unveiled the measures taken by the defense council to fight against the epidemic rebound. He notably mentioned a reduction in the duration of isolation of contact cases to 7 days, the establishment of slots and places dedicated to people at risk (caregivers, symptomatic and contact cases) and new restrictive measures which could be taken. in Marseilles, Bordeaux and Guadeloupe.
- The virus is circulating more and more with, in particular, an increase in the incidence rate and positive cases.
- To improve the tracing policy, 2,000 people will be recruited and checks will be carried out.
- Time slots and tents will be reserved for the screening of caregivers, contact cases and symptomatic people.
- Additional measures will be taken in Marseille, Bordeaux and Guadeloupe where the virus is circulating more than elsewhere.
“A manifest degradation”. Here is how Prime Minister Jean Castex assessed the current health situation during a press conference at the Matignon hotel this Friday, September 11. “The virus is circulating more and more in France”, he added, relying on the figures for the incidence rate (72 cases per 100,000 people compared to 57 a week ago) and positive cases which are constantly increasing. Observations which led the defense council, gathered around Emmanuel Macron this Friday, to take measures presented by the Prime Minister.
#COVID19 | The evolution of the epidemiological situation shows a clear deterioration of the situation: the virus is circulating more and more in France. pic.twitter.com/nvhcM3iIxv
— Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) September 11, 2020
Reinforcement of the tracing policy
The logic of the measures announced by Jean Castex lies in the desire not to put life on hold as was the case during the confinement period. “We want to avoid putting on hold our social, cultural, economic life, children’s education and our ability to live normally.“said the Prime Minister. The goal is to continuemanage to live with it (the virus) without letting ourselves be dragged back into generalized confinement”, he continued. With this in mind, he recalled the need to respect barrier gestures and asked the elderly to be extremely careful. “Tomorrow depends on you, on us”, he concluded.
#COVID19 | Faced with this epidemic, our strategy does not vary: to fight against the virus by avoiding having to put on hold our social, cultural, economic life, the education of our children and our ability to live normally. pic.twitter.com/L5Lbh9R1pt
— Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) September 11, 2020
For people declared positive and contact cases, two measures have been announced. The first concerns the isolation of contact cases, reduced from 14 to 7 days as the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had wished. These 7 days correspond to the “duration during which there is a real risk of contagion”, justified Jean Castex. In order to improve the contact case tracing policy, he announced “2,000 additional recruitments in Health Insurance and Regional Health Agencies”. He also added that checks will be carried out, without specifying the modalities.
Marseille, Bordeaux and Guadeloupe will have specific measures
The other key point of these announcements concerns screening. If he first praised the number of tests carried out, more than a million making France “the third country that tests the most in Europe”, the Prime Minister acknowledged “too long waiting times for test results.” To restore the effectiveness of these tests, he indicated the establishment of a prioritization of access to tests for people who present symptoms, who are contact cases and for nursing staff. “For these priority people, we are going to strengthen the dedicated screening circuitshe revealed. Time slots will be reserved for them. Screening tents will be set up in major cities.”
Finally, Jean Castex recalled that disparities in the circulation of the virus take place on the territory. He brought the number of departments classified red, indicating an active circulation of the virus, to 42, without specifying which ones integrate the list. “It triggers additional risk reduction measures”, he recalled. It isolated two metropolises, Marseille and Bordeaux, and Guadeloupe where we are witnessing a “worrying evolution of contaminations”. Based on 3-week forecasts on the occupancy of beds in intensive care, he asked the prefects to present new measures by Monday to try to stem this dynamic.
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