Last week, “flu indicators were down in city medicine and emergencies, but hospitalizations and deaths continued to increase”, according to Public Health France.
An improvement that remains far from a way out of the crisis. The flu epidemic has slowed down in recent days, remaining at a “high level”, while, in infants, that of bronchiolitis continues but with hospitalizations still falling, summarized Public Health France on Wednesday.
The past week has been marked by a “slowdown in the circulation of influenza viruses but still at a high level”, the agency noted in his weekly report. The flu epidemic, which currently strikes all regions of mainland France and most of the overseas territories, is early this year.
Triple epidemic
“Influenza indicators were down in city medicine and emergencies, but hospitalizations and deaths continued to increase, particularly among people aged 65 and over”, also notes Public Health France.
The number of visits to the emergency room for influenza or influenza-like illness has thus decreased by 27% compared to the previous week. Among those aged 65 and over, however, it increased by 10% and the number of hospitalizations after passage rose by 18%.
The agency also warns that if “the end of the year holidays generally favor the decrease in the circulation of the flu”, a rebound can be observed after the start of the school year.
The bronchiolitis epidemic continued in mainland France as well as in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique and Mayotte. But the agency noted a “decrease in emergency visits and hospitalizations after emergency visits among children under 2 years old in mainland France for the fourth consecutive week”.
No immediate relief on the horizon for the health system, therefore, under tension for several weeks due to a triple epidemic of Covid-19, bronchiolitis and influenza, which weighs on the emergency services. In Thionville (Moselle) for example, according to union sources, 55 nurses and caregivers out of the 59 who work in the emergency room were placed on sick leave at the end of last week, due to exhaustion.
