A tense autumn? After two and a half years of pandemic, the French are tired of hearing about Covid-19 and the government knows it well. However, the virus continues to circulate in France, according to the latest figures from Public Health France. 37,435 new cases were recorded on Sunday, which represents an increase of almost 20% compared to the previous week. The average incidence rate is now 447 in France, up 35% over the last seven days. The effective R, meanwhile, is 1.3, which means that one sick person infects another.
A few months ago, these figures would have raised fears of a reconfinement of the population, but the relationship to the epidemic has changed a lot in France. Brigitte Autran heads the Health Risk Monitoring and Anticipation Committee (Covars), which replaces the Scientific Council. Questioned by franceinfo, she explains that the eighth wave “is there, it is real”, but that it does not worry her for all that. “I say that we really have to start wearing masks again in transport and in all populated places”, she adds to the chain, specifying: “When we are in the entourage of a fragile person, you really have to protect her. Protecting her means first getting vaccinated and then wearing a mask”.
The Covid-19 is not the only virus to circulate with the cooling of the temperatures and the flu also worries. Brigitte Autran invites, still on franceinfo, to “take the model of the Asian populations who have been wearing masks for a very long time as soon as they have a cold, as soon as someone has a cold in their family”. According to her, “it must become a kind of civic gesture”. Wearing a mask in densely frequented places is no longer compulsory, but the Minister of Health François Braun has also called for the return of the mask in transport.
At this time, this is only a recommendation, but in some departments it may need to be considered now. It is in these territories that the virus is currently circulating the most, according to the latest figures on the epidemic. Find out which ones in the slideshow below.