More than two years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, several dozen French people are still dying from the virus every day. What is the profile of these people?
Covid-19 continues to claim victims. More than two years after its appearance, the virus still kills a hundred people a day in France. Far from the confinements and 500 deaths per day that the country experienced several months ago, hospitals in France continue to see fragile patients being admitted to their establishments because of Covid-19. Although the variants currently circulating on the territory are not as virulent as those which circulated several months ago – such as Alpha or Delta – and a very large part of the population is now vaccinated, the virus still kills, but tends to target a more targeted population than before.
“We no longer see young patients, without underlying illnesses which form serious forms, but we continue to have regular arrivals of fragile patients who go to intensive care because of the Covid”, confirms to l’Express Djillali Annane, head of the intensive care unit at Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine). The head of the intensive care unit at the Avicenne hospital located in Bobigny (Seine Saint-Denis) Yves Cohen confirms for his part that people hospitalized for serious cases in intensive care have been, for several months, patients who have not been vaccinated, or with comorbidities. , or immunocompromised.
More unexpected deaths
Contacted by Yahoo News, Agnès Ricard-Hibon, emergency doctor and head of the Emergency-SMUR department of Beaumont sur Oise (Val d’Oise) does not want to minimize the current wave by recalling that everyone can be concerned. : “The people who die are mostly people who have comorbidities but we are still sometimes surprised by unexpected deaths that we do not understand. But indeed most people have fragilities but if the Covid was not there they would be alive.”
The Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics Department (DREES) noted in March that men, especially those who are elderly, are more likely to die from the disease, although in this fourth wave, age influences the risk of being hospitalized less than in previous waves. The study also points out that the risk of hospitalization for individuals belonging to the wealthiest 10% is 2.3 times greater than that of individuals belonging to the poorest 10%. The median age of those who died is 82, while those over 80 account for 60% of all hospital deaths. “Concerning the elderly, the situation is very different from the first wave thanks to the vaccination which protects them”, indicates Agnès Ricard-Hibon.
Do not trivialize the current wave
According to figures from DREES, 14% of intensive care patients die in hospital compared to 20% during the first three waves. Figures in slight improvement thanks to therapies, according to Djillali Annane. On the other hand, for several days the number of daily admissions to hospital has been increasing slightly, in particular due to the vaccination of the over 60s, which would have less effect around 6 months after their booster dose. A trend confirmed by the emergency physician and head of the SAMU-SMUR 95 department in Pontoise (Val d’Oise): “Vaccination is fading for people who had their booster dose several months ago, especially with Omicron This fully justifies the recall for those over 60 and fragile people. It is a reality, immunity drops over time, even for young people.”
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If the epidemic is less devastating than several months ago, Agnès Ricard-Hibon would like to remind you that the coronavirus should not be considered as a simple cold: “We must not trivialize this new wave, because the people tend to relax barrier gestures. The evolution of the pandemic is essentially made according to people’s behavior. The more we trivialize, the more people relax and the more significant consequences there are for the health of the population.
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