This is a statement drawn up at the start of each week, in the tables and figures communicated by the French health authorities. Since the start of the pandemic in France, the number of deaths communicated each Sunday or public holiday has always been underestimated. La Dépêche du Midi explains why.
Every day, Public Health France informs the number of new people contaminated with Covid-19, the number of deaths and hospitalizations linked to the virus, this in the space of 24 hours: elements which make it possible to take stock daily on the advance of the disease in France.
Since the start of the pandemic, however, we have noticed that the number of deaths or people in intensive care, announced on Sundays or public holidays, is always much lower than that reported the following day: it is a constant. Here is what has been observed with regard to the deaths observed in France, since the middle of March:
In blue are represented the deaths observed on Sundays and public holidays, less numerous than the deaths observed the following days.
– DDM Robin Serradeil / Piktochart
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Thus, in the space of 24 hours, Sunday April 5, Public Health France has recorded no less than 357 new deaths. There were 441 the day before and 605 the following Monday. Verdict: is the assessment communicated on Monday by the French health authorities overvalued?
Public Health France returned to this point of precision. Questioned by the newspaper Le Parisien, the organization gives this a “practical” reason, in that on weekends, some hospitals do not communicate (or at least only partially) their results. The reason ? Fewer staff. Result: the assessment stated every Sunday by the health authorities is … incomplete.
A “catch-up of the weekend”
“Generally, we observe on Monday a higher number of declarations which is explained by the catch-up of the weekend. The figures that we communicate are calculated by date of declaration and they are therefore affected by this lesser declaration on weekends. end and more important on Monday “, indicates the agency in the columns of the Parisian.
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According to Santé Publique France, “this reporting period is observed in many surveillance systems”. This phenomenon is also observed in our Italian neighbors and, to a lesser extent, in Germany.
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