Prevention rather than cure: in its latest opinion posted on the website of the Ministry of Health this Thursday, the members of the scientific committee invite the government to build a proportionate response now in the event of a second Covid wave in the coming months. If two weeks after release from containment, the circulation of the virus appears to them “Limited” and the health situation “Controlled”, the future remains, to believe them, uncertain.
Aware that a new generalized confinement is not “Neither desirable” or “Probably acceptable”, scientists suggest developing a “Close protection plan”, dubbed P2R-Covid, so that, in the absence of treatment or vaccine, it can provide an appropriate response to the future level of severity of the epidemic.
To embody his point, the council identifies four scenarios for a possible second wave. The worst part, namely an out of control epidemic, before “Absolutely to be avoided”. A goal that he claims “Active preparation on the part of the authorities and of society as a whole”. And a necessity: to be able to count on “Clear, operational and partially territorialized governance”. A polite way to point out that this is far from the case at the moment. “This governance should include scientific and health, but also inter-ministerial and more broadly institutional skills”, he specifies for all practical purposes.
For the committee, “close protection plan » must include seven “Protocols”, like so many tools to operate depending on the severity of the local health situation. Namely: the reinforcement of barrier and distancing measures, the reinforced implementation of the “test, trace, isolate” strategy, a protection plan for Ehpad, a reinforced protection by voluntary confinement of the most vulnerable people because of their age or their state of health, a plan intended for the most precarious people as well as a set of measures to be implemented in the metropolises, which are particularly exposed, in particular in Ile-de-France; and maintaining a state of alert or at least a watch state in hospitals. A way of reminding the executive that one disaster can hide another.
Nathalie Raulin
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