Every day on the island, an average of 300 people are infected with the Covid. This Thursday, 388 new cases were identified in the territory, three new hospitalizations (66) and one additional death in nursing homes.
READ ALSO: Outbreak of Covid-19 cases in August: the ARS triggers a regional white plan
With the highest incidence rate in mainland France, Haute-Corse is a poor student. In just a short week, the change occurred. From the start of the first waves of contamination to the regional triggering of the white plan, less than three weeks have passed.
Indeed, since Monday, the regional health agency has activated this tool to contain the saturation of services and allow hospitals to manage the influx of positive patients.
Contamination record
For several days, health professionals have been talking about “ rapid growth “ of the virus, its exponential spread, in particular in certain micro-regions of the island in which the first cases were observed. And since then, the variant has been circulating.
READ ALSO: Covid-19 in Corsica: first medical evacuation of a patient on the continent
Does this demonstrate that the compulsory health pass to disembark on the island has not had the desired effect? Should this be seen as the consequence of a collective relaxation of barrier gestures in the summer? Finally, did the June break in the vaccine dynamic that resulted from the ministerial announcements not facilitate the epidemic resurgence? Of “champion of vaccination” distinguished in April by Minister Marlène Schiappa, four months later, the island broke contamination records.
“People are not vaccinated enough. You have to accept the idea that you have to get vaccinated”, insists Bianca Fazi. His speech is not political, it is more that of a doctor at the front like so many others than that of the executive adviser in charge of health. But the vaccine now seems to have become a political subject, and its corollary the liberticidal health pass in the opinion of opponents. “We must trust science, we are in a pandemic“, hammers Bianca Fazi who fears a hospital tension.
In the aftermath of the presidential announcements of July 12, vaccination resumed “but it will take time for the contaminations curve to weaken”, recognize professionals.
“A positivity rate of 16.5% against 10% last fall”
The other reality is that the resurgence of the virus and the entry into the territory of the Indian variant are not exclusively attributable to tourism. “These are not always imported cases. “
Focus on the Bastia region and explanations. For the biologist Jean-Michel Vialle, “The introduction of the Delta variant in the Bastia region, at the beginning of July, would be the result of the conjunction of two factors. Young islanders would have returned from Spain after having carried out a negative antigen test. However, on July 8, they were tested again. were positive and the sequencing of the virus made it possible to verify that it was indeed the variant but it was already too late … “
READ ALSO: VIDEOS. Health crisis: new measures announced for Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud
Too late because in this summer period where the festive evenings are linked and the barrier gestures are forgotten, the variant has had the freedom to circulate with a young population – mainly 21-26 years old – which is still slow to be made. vaccinate. The virus had a gateway to Bastia and others left open in Balagne during family celebrations and festive events at the origin of the first clusters.
Currently, between 1,200 to 1,600 tests are carried out daily in the Bastia region with a peak of 1,800 last week. “The one-day positivity rate is 16.5%, it was between 9 and 10% last fall “, indicates Jean-Michel Vialle.
Progressive measures
Now it is the increased transmissibility of the variant that is of concern. Because according to a mechanical phenomenon, “the more there are infected people, the more the number of people who could require a hospitalization will increase”.
The Bastia public health establishment has reactivated the Covid hospitalization units and is able to accommodate up to 46 patients, with 5 intensive care beds and 6 continuing care beds. A first hospitalized patient was evacuated to the continent this Thursday, August 5.
READ ALSO: The “Delta” variant turns on Corsican hospitals
The hyper contagiousness of this virus “who has transferred and who does not know a season “, concerns doctors like Jean Canarelli, president of the Ordre des médecins de Corse-du-Sud and biologist. While it is premature to advance some scientific data about the Delta, there is every reason to believe that the exposure time to risk contamination has been reduced compared to the first strains.
Last January, it took 5 to 6 weeks to observe the domination of the English variant on the territory. This time, in just 15 days the Delta variant “crushed” all other strains of the virus.
The festive events could have been the triggers, the imperfect vaccination of the population too.
–
