A French anesthetist-resuscitator believes that “earlier measures can prevent disaster.”
• Read also: Third wave: a tightening of health measures envisaged in five regions
• Read also: “I saw a government that does not know what to do”
Doctor Stéphane Gaudry, who practices at the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny, in the Paris region, reacted after the press briefing by the Legault government, which has not announced any tightening of health measures for the moment, while Quebec is at start of its third wave.
“I am more in favor of having measures very early on to avoid explosions and health disasters. In addition it allows to reopen gradually and to save time on vaccination, because that is what will get us out of this crisis, ”he said in an interview with LCN.
“There is a phenomenon in this third wave linked particularly to the so-called English variant. As soon as it starts to become significant in percentage, we immediately see an explosion of contaminations because this variant diffuses more easily in the population, but also gives more serious forms and leads to more mortality ”, he added. he adds.
The doctor also told how the situation is very worrying in France where the intensive care sectors are saturated in hospitals in certain regions.
“We are very worried about the future, because the projections we have are even more worrying than what we have now.”
He added that patients admitted to intensive care were getting younger and younger.
“We have a large number of very, very young patients between the ages of 30 and 60. The population most affected is the young population, probably because the older people have self-contained and the very old have already received their vaccine, ”he explained.
Crucial Defense Tip
A crucial Defense Council must be held around President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to take stock of the pandemic, while the authorities face pressure from doctors who demand a new turn of the screw.
With now more COVID-19 patients in intensive care than at the peak of the second wave, France is again at the foot of the wall between the specter of sorting patients in hospital and health restrictions that are likely to go crescendo.
The number of patients in intensive care stands at 4,974, which is now more than the peak of the second wave of the epidemic in autumn (4,903), according to figures released Monday by the public health agency France.
In total, including COVID patients and others, nearly 90% of the country’s intensive care beds are already occupied.
And the epidemic outbreak – between 40,000 to 50,000 patients tested positive every day last week – driven by the more contagious and virulent English variant, does not augur an immediate drop in hospital admissions.
Since the start of the epidemic, more than a year ago, nearly 95,000 people have died in France from COVID.
– with AFP