Faced with cases of Covid-19, flu and bronchiolitis, health professionals recommend adopting certain barrier gestures again before and during the end-of-year holidays to avoid too many hospitalizations.
With the onset of winter, the Covid-19 is recovering and the number of contaminations such as that of hospitalizations is gradually climbing according to the weekly reports of Public health France. With more than 4,200 hospitalizations caused by the virus in seven days and a little more than a month before Christmas, we can expect to see the barrier measures invite themselves to the end of the year celebrations. A scenario all the more plausible as the cases of Covid-19 are added to the numerous cases of bronchiolitis and the arrival of the flu. All these winter viruses pose the risk of an overload of patients in hospital services already tested and still weakened by the consequences of the pandemic. The hospital is already in a “very particular conjunction, not to mention the circulation of other winter viruses”, according to the description of Benjamin Davido, infectiologist and Covid-19 referent at the Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches, in the Hauts -de-Seine, near BFM TV. Doctors explain, however, that the holiday season can pass without (too much) difficulty if everyone reconnects with good habits, including a few barrier gestures.
Barrier measures against Covid-19 at Christmas?
If the tendency of Covid-19 to circulate more easily during the winter, like many other respiratory viruses, has been proven, Christmas is all the more a time conducive to an increase in contamination. This for two reasons: the grouping of several people in an unventilated room and the mixing of the population for family reunions which facilitate the transmission of the virus. Vaccination and immunity have reduced the risk of the disease, but epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea recalls that Covid-19 “is still present” and that some fragile people “still die” from it if sufficient measures are not taken. .
To limit the number of contaminations with Covid-19 but also with other winter viruses, health professionals are now inviting people to reconnect with the most basic health measures, namely social distancing, regular hand washing and even wearing of the mask in case of close proximity or in poorly ventilated places. Gestures which are reminiscent of the injunctions made during the Covid-19 pandemic and which have since been abandoned by the majority of the population. Wearing a mask, for example, if recommended, is no longer the norm in closed places, yet it protects others against all respiratory viruses. “We have not explained enough that the mask is a protection for other respiratory infections in the fall and winter”, has also repeated infectiology Benjamin Davido, still on the antenna of BFM TV. As for the epidemiologist and professor of public health at the Lille University Hospital, Philippe Amouyel, he insists that “we must use the tools” to fight against epidemics.
Holiday recommendations
No instructions or constraints should be issued for the 2022 end-of-year celebrations, however health professionals are already issuing recommendations and many are similar to those drafted by the Scientific Council in December 2021:
- Limit the number of guests
- Ventilate the premises regularly
- Respect social distancing and wearing a mask if necessary
- Ensure that all guests or at least frail people have received all booster doses
- Do a self-test or antigen test the same day, especially if in doubt or if symptoms
Epidemiologists also insist on the importance of resorting to vaccination, both for Covid-19 and for the flu. The two campaigns have been carried out at the same time since the beginning of November but are struggling to refuel according to data from Public Health France. The elderly and frail are invited to take a booster shot against Covid1-19 six months after the last injection or three months after contracting the virus. As for the flu, everyone, in particular the vulnerable population, is invited to get vaccinated, especially after two winters spent (almost) without flu and during which immunity to the virus has drastically diminished.