While the Scientific Council considers “extremely likely” a second wave of coronavirus in the fall, the Minister of Health considers, in an interview with the daily Le Monde dated June 25, that “no hypothesis should be neglected”. Olivier Véran evokes the opinions of experts, as multiple as they are divergent: those “who say that there will be no more epidemic wave”, others “more numerous”, that the risk is “not insignificant”. As for when? This is again hypothetical: “some see it in the fall, others in one or two years, even in 2024”! Be that as it may, the minister is clear: “we must prepare for all the hypotheses”.
And getting ready means implementing a strategy, in the form of two components.
First of all, “test, test, test“, as the WHO advised at the end of March. With the aim of tracking down the virus, isolating infected people and ultimately break the chains of transmission. But also to avoid the appearance of clusters, these sometimes invisible outbreaks of people infected but not symptomatic.
For the time being, 250,000 tests are carried out each week, with a 1.5% positivity rate.
But the Minister of Health announces an acceleration with the launch of a screening campaign coordinated by Health Insurance.
Screening campaign: For whom? How to get tested?
In total, nearly 1.3 million people living in thirty municipalities in Ile-de-France will receive health insurance vouchers offering them to go for a virological test in any public or private laboratory, even if they have no symptoms, Olivier Véran said on Thursday.
The test campaign began this Monday, June 29 in Île-de-France. The residents of 32 municipalities will be able to benefit from free screening, announced the Regional Health Agency (ARS). Aurélien Rousseau, director general of the ARS, told AFP that in the event of a positive result, serological tests will also be offered. “to know if the contamination is old or recent“As a reminder, serological tests allow you to know if you have already been infected in the past, so that you are immune.
The Regional Health Agency used three criteria to establish this list : epidemiological criterion (contamination rate higher than the national average), criterion for access to screening (proportion of tests carried out below the average) and a criterion linked to the economic and social situation of the municipality.
What are these 32 municipalities?
Seine-Saint-Denis:
- Gagny
- Bobigny
- stains
- Bondy
- Drancy
- Le Bourget
- Epinay-sur-Seine
- Sevran
Val d’Oise :
- Goussainville
- Garges-les-Gonesse
- Cergy
- Argenteuil
- Bezons
- Gonesse
- teal
- Villiers-le-Bel
Val de Marne :
- Villejuif
- Limeil-Brevannes
Hauts-de-Seine:
- doves
- Nanterre
- Gennevilliers
- La Garenne-Colombes
Yvelines:
- Mantes la Jolie
- Les Mureaux
- Limay
- Mantes-la-Ville
- hatches
- Elancourt
Essone:
- Grigny
- Evry
Seine et Marne :
- Melun
- Montereau-Fault-Yonne
The screening campaign must, in the words of the minister, concern “volunteers in risk areas”, but Olivier Véran has so far only mentioned Ile-de-France. This is a first experimental campaign, which could be extended to other regions. Indeed, the questions could particularly arise in the three other regions, which currently account for 74% of patients hospitalized in intensive care due to Covid-19, according to Santé Publique France. These “at risk” areas are: Grand-Est, Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France.
More resuscitation beds (and more equipment)
Second, complementary component, limiting the risk of tension in hospitals, which had led to confinement during the first wave. For this, the government explains that it will increase resuscitation capacities to at least 12,000 beds. Remember that to deal with the epidemic, they had increased from 5,000 to 9,000 beds during the first wave.
