Published 9 hours ago,
Reading 2 mins.
in collaboration with
Dr Yvon Le Flohic, general practitioner
The Covid-19 epidemic is gradually dying out in France. Since Monday, wearing a mask is no longer compulsory in public transport. But the number of contaminations remains high – 30,000 cases detected per day. With the approach of the summer holidays, a question arises: how to succeed in traveling in peace with the coronavirus? Doctor Yvon Le Flohic, general practitioner answers.
Respect health restrictions when you are at risk
For Yvon Le Flohic, a certain type of public must be particularly attentive to health restrictions, whether traveling or not: “we are starting to see quite clearly that the risk mainly concerns the elderly and people at risk (immunocompromised, on dialysis, etc.)”.
How to protect yourself abroad when you are at risk? “Depending on the local incidence of the country where you are traveling, wearing a mask in closed places makes sense. Anything involving multiple transport (plane, train, bus) is a risk of contamination”.
For the general practitioner, information remains essential. Before leaving, it is necessary to find out about the accessibility to medicine, the use of care and the overall health system of the chosen country.
“For all that is travel to countries with a Western lifestyle, there are no particular restrictions, except to be up to date in your vaccinations and to wear a mask in public places if you are person at risk”he explains.
For Doctor Yvon Le Flohic, it is important to remember that the epidemic situation is becoming increasingly calm: “At the global level, if we look at the mortality curves, we are in a favorable period. There have never been so few deaths in the world since March 2020. Even in countries currently in the middle of winter, the risk is lower. And we do not see a fundamental change in the aggressiveness of the new variants coming in the immediate future”.
He adds: “Otherwise, don’t forget to take advantage of the summer; go out to cultural events, get some fresh air, let’s move on a bit, at least for the moment!”.
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Covid-19: far from the only problem
The general practitioner wanted to resituate the health risks of travel since “Covid-19 is one of the problems but far from being the only one, especially among children”. There are many diseases that can be caught while traveling: malaria, yellow fever, hepatitis, salmonella…
Here again, “information is essential, even for someone who has no medical history”, says Dr. Le Flohic. To learn about the risks of a country before leaving, “there is a very good site, constantly updated: diplomatie.gouv.fr”. tab Health indicates the health risks of the chosen country.
“There are 1000 ways to catch diseases. Some countries therefore require specific vaccines. For example, in France, there is no more hepatitis A or jaundice, but this is the case in other countries. locations”he warns.
In any case, whether you are a person at risk or not, “it is necessary to find out about the chosen country, check that you are well insured and update all your vaccines”.
At last, “Above all, do not hesitate to discuss it with your doctors if you wish to go to a country with a less developed healthcare system. We will check the vaccines according to the country and see if there is not an epidemic in progress “.