Vaccine, wearing a mask, social distancing… One week before Christmas Eve and faced with the increase in cases of flu, Covid-19 and bronchiolitis, we must take as many precautions as possible to avoid being sick or infect those close to you.
- The Minister of Health calls on the French to be vaccinated against flu and Covid-19.
- In addition to vaccination, it is recommended to apply barrier gestures to avoid getting sick or contaminating others.
- Influenza, Covid-19 and bronchiolitis viruses are on the rise in France.
“We need a rebound in vaccination, declared Aurélien RousseauMinister of Health, this Wednesday, December 13. We crossed 10 million [de personnes vaccinées] on the flu, we crossed 5 million on Covid. (…) This is the right time to do it. There is perhaps a trivialization effect because we have learned to live with Covid, with the flu. But we all have people around us who catch Covid, and for whom it is severe, severe.”
Vaccination and barrier gestures to have a happy holiday
Before the end-of-year holidays, the government is calling on the French to be vaccinated to protect themselves and others from Covid-19 and seasonal flu. According to latest bulletin of acute respiratory infections, published on December 13, only 25.6% of those aged 65 and over received their injection against Covid-19, 18.8% of 65-69 year olds, 23.7% of 70-74 year olds, 30.4% of 75-79 year olds and 30.7% of those aged 80 and over. The objective of the Ministry of Health, with this call for vaccination, is to limit contamination but also to avoid “very strong pressure on the health system”.
In addition to vaccination, this last week before Christmas is also an opportunity to redouble our efforts and respect the barrier gestures : social distancing, wearing a mask in enclosed spaces, washing your hands regularly or using a hydro-alcoholic solution, ventilating the rooms for 10 minutes every hour, coughing or sneezing into your elbow or into a tissue, blowing your nose into a tissue single use and throw it away.
Flu, Covid-19 and bronchiolitis on the rise
Respecting these barrier gestures will perhaps allow you to avoid one of the three acute respiratory infections which are widely circulating in the country: flu, bronchiolitis and Covid-19. Indeed, according to Santé Publique France, in week 49 (from December 4 to 10, 2023) they were increasing in community medicine and hospitals.
As for the bronchiolitisa respiratory infection of viral origin which can be serious for young children and the elderly, all regions of mainland France are in an epidemic phase.
For influenza, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region is in the epidemic phase and Occitanie, Hauts-de-France and Pays de la Loire are in the pre-epidemic phase. Finally, “the SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate was increasing [en semaine 49] in community medicine and hospitals. In wastewater, a sharp increase in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 was observed again this week”.
