The pressure on French hospitals is increasing – seventh covid wave

In France, the number of patients with covid-19 is now increasing in the country’s intensive care units. But the healthcare system will hold, according to the country’s expert council.

– The peak will probably be reached next week, says chairman Jean-François Delfraissy.

France is in the middle of a seventh wave of infection with just over 180,000 new confirmed cases every day. However, the real figure is believed to be higher because people are tired of reporting positive test results, according to the government’s expert council that has been put together to fight the pandemic.

– It is difficult to say when we will reach the top, but we are seeing a slight slowdown in the rate of increase in the Paris area, which has been worst affected, says Jean-François Delfraissy, who is chairman of the expert council of the French radio channel RTL.

As in the rest of Europe, it is the new omicron variant BA.5 that is behind the rapid spread of infection.

High pressure

The number of patients receiving intensive care has increased sharply recently and is expected to rise even more in the next two weeks. Between 1,100 and 1,200 patients are currently being cared for in the country’s intensive care units.

– We will probably reach around 1,800 iva admissions and maybe even more than that, says Delfraissy.

At the same time, he assures that the health service will be able to handle it.

– We will see increased pressure on hospitals at the end of July, but we will be able to handle it, he says.

Delfraissy compares with previous waves of infection in January and March this year, when almost 3,000 and 1,800 people needed intensive care, respectively.

Mouthguard reintroduced

In mid-March, France abolished the requirement for mouth protection in indoor environments and a couple of months later also in public transport. The vaccine passport, which has previously been required in various contexts, including for cinema and museum visits, was also removed. But now the French are once again advised to use mouth guards.

– I ask the French now that the holidays are starting to put on mouth guards on trains, on buses and all places where we are crowded, says Minister of Health François Braun to Le Monde.

Some experts and politicians have gone even further and reintroduced the oral protection requirement. Since Monday, it is mandatory to have mouth guards in local traffic in Nice and surrounding municipalities.

“I think we have to, with around 200,000 new cases in one day, realize that we are in a seventh wave rising like an arrow,” Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi told radio station RTL last week.

Small effect with mouth guard

However, Jean-François Delfraissy does not believe that an oral protection requirement can stop the ongoing spread of infection.

– We are already in the middle of the wave and mouth protection will now have very little effect. What we must do, however, is to protect the elderly and people who belong to risk groups. The patients who receive intensive care are usually the elderly and those who have other risk factors.

Last week, France reached a symbolic threshold when the number of covid-19 deaths exceeded 150,000 people.