“The greatest proportion of car accidents take place in the last kilometres”. Jocelyn Raude’s road comparison to describe the current perception of the Covid-19 epidemic seems surprising. Except when it comes to evoking the process of “accustoming to risk”, equally speaking in both cases. Because the pandemic has experienced a marked resurgence in recent weeks. According to the last epidemiological point of Public Health France, as of March 31, the incidence rate is up 42% compared to the previous week; the number of new hospital admissions by 5% and critical care admissions by 2%. If weekly deaths linked to the virus are down slightly, they remain high: 622 deaths between March 21 and 27, in hospitals and in social and medico-social establishments. However, the French no longer follow epidemiological indices with as much attention as at the start of the pandemic. “There is a relaxation of behavior and vigilance”, confirms the teacher-researcher in social psychology at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP) in Rennes.
The Scientific Council was concerned about this in mid-March. In a note, he deplored “a certain form of trivialization and indifference” when “the epidemic is not over” and that it “continues with viral circulation still high”. In addition to the “risk habituation” of Covid-19, the first cases of which were detected more than two years ago in China, several factors can be put forward to explain the phenomenon.
Other Concerns and Lifting of Restrictions
The calendar effect is one of them. “We tend to worry about one thing in particular and not about several at the same time”, remarks Jocelyn Raude. The media focus turned more to the war in Ukraine, the issues of purchasing power andinflation, the upcoming presidential election. The monitoring of the pandemic, even if it remains present, is less intense than it could have been. The fault also, surely, with the effect of “pandemic fatigue” that was mentioned in November 2020 the world health organization (WHO), reporting a general exhaustion of citizens due to the health crisis and its consequences. “People saturate over time”, confirms the EHESP teacher-researcher.
The gradual end of the restrictions may also have contributed to this feeling of trivialization of an epidemic with which the population has learned to live. On March 14, the government abolished the vaccination pass and lifted the wearing of masks indoors, except in transport and health establishments. “A form of awkwardness”, believes Jocelyn Raude, “since the French generally have the idea that if it is not compulsory, it is not important. We should, at least, have maintained recommendations. message gives the impression that the situation no longer requires as much caution”.
“It’s regrettable,” confirms epidemiologist Yves Buisson. “We let it spread in people’s minds over a month ago that it was the beginning of the end, a return to normal life.” If he judges that in the event of the non-appearance of new variants, “we will no doubt get out of it”, the president of the Covid-19 cell of the National Academy of Medicine considers that “the lifting of restrictions was premature We said it before, during, after. We should have waited until May. There was certainly pre-election pressure, but it could be counterproductive. And we can see it: there is a relaxation ” .
The trivialization started early
According to Jocelyn Raude, the trivialization of the pandemic is a phenomenon which nevertheless began early, barely a few months after its beginnings. “Initially, Covid-19 was perceived as very serious. After the first confinement, we saw that the perception of the severity of the disease and a differentiation of preventive measures quickly spread by age category. Young people , little affected by hospitalizations and deaths, seemed less mobilized. This situation, stable for a long time, has evolved with the appearance of new variants. In particular Omicron, more contagious but less virulent than its predecessors. “The trivialization was then observed in all age categories, all social groups, even the oldest,” he says. And this, even before the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Above all, a “misconception has taken hold that Omicron was just a bad cold”, he adds.
Difficult, with this conception in mind, to remobilize massively in the face of the epidemic. In view of the context, the teacher-researcher in social psychology hardly believes in it, “except among groups at risk”. Yves Buisson worries, him “of the fall of vaccination, while the people at risk have not all received injections”.