The number of people newly infected with the corona virus in France could be significantly higher than previously assumed. The actual number is probably “more like 100,000 cases a day,” said Jean-François Delfraissy, chairman of the scientific advisory board, at the beginning of the week in an interview with the French broadcaster “RTL”. The advisory board is advising the French government on how to deal with the virus.
“We predicted there would be this second wave, but we ourselves are surprised by the brutality of what has happened in the past ten days,” said Delfraissy. Other experts even speak of up to 200,000 infections per day.
The health authorities in France had reported a record high in new infections on Sunday morning: within one day, 52,010 people were demonstrably infected with the corona virus. 116 new deaths had also been reported since Saturday. On Monday, the authorities reported 26,771 new corona infections within 24 hours, the number of people who died in connection with the coronavirus rose by 258. The positive rate of the tests was still just under 14 percent.
Some clinics in the particularly affected regions are reaching their capacity limits. According to the newspaper “Liberation”, 67 percent of the 1200 intensive care beds in the region around Paris are already occupied by coronavirus patients, and the system could reach its limits in three weeks. A recent study had shown that the burden on health workers had increased enormously.
Eric Caumes, an infectious disease specialist at the renowned Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, spoke out in favor of a lockdown in the newspaper “Liberation”: “In epidemiology, there is no such thing as a curfew,” he said. Only a lockdown could control the circulation of the Stop virus.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmain said on Tuesday before an emergency cabinet meeting that “tough decisions” are inevitable. On Wednesday, the newspaper “Le Monde” reported, a decision on tightened measures will be taken.
Extended curfew or lockdown light
In view of the tense situation, the chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, Delfraissy, discussed two possible measures for the next few weeks and months. On the one hand, a stricter curfew would be conceivable, which could include more hours than before and could also be applied in other regions.
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After ten to fifteen days you have to see whether the situation has improved. If this is not the case, you have to go into lockdown again.
President Emmanuel Macron has already imposed a curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for 54 departments and the French overseas territory of French Polynesia. Two thirds of the residents of France are already affected by this anti-corona measure.
As a second option, Delfraissy named “going straight into a lockdown that is less strict than in March”. Working from the home office should play a bigger role than before, but school operations should still be possible. He also suggested going into lockdown for a shorter time than in the spring.
Whether schools in France will actually reopen remains questionable. They are currently closed due to the two-week “All Saints Holidays” (“Vacances de la Toussaint”). School operations are normally scheduled to resume on November 2nd. But there are voices that are already calling for the majority of the facilities to be closed for the time being.
Fears about economic consequences
The president of the largest employers’ association in France, the Mouvement des Entreprise de France (“Movement of French Businesses”), expressed serious concerns about a second lockdown. This would lead to “the collapse of the French economy”, he told the radio station “RMC”.
The Minister of Labor, Elisabeth Borne, told the TV channel “LCI” that they would try to find a good balance between the health of the French and the continuation of economic, educational and cultural life. (with AFP)
