" The epidemic is not yet behind us. Do not lose heart in our efforts. "This is the message that has hammered the president of the Republic a few days from the weekend of the Ascension, and which serves as the mantra of the government. The european Centre of prevention and control of disease has also insisted on the fact that a "second wave" of contamination was inevitable in Europe. Remains to know its magnitude. While the bridges follow one another, and that the major holidays are coming soon, the gatherings of family and friends will inevitably multiply.
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But how do you comply with the actions barriers at such gatherings ? How to live this summer in the calmest way possible, without forgetting that the virus is still there ? Dr. Jean-Christophe Nogrette, general practitioner and assistant secretary of the trade union MG France, provides some answers.
In family or between friends, what are the actions to adopt to find himself at a dinner, a weekend, or even holiday ?
"The virus doesn't care about our social conventions, and, regardless of these situations, it's going to keep the same characteristics," says dr. Jean-Christophe Nogrette. In other words, as long as the virus continues to circulate in the population, we will increase the probability of the meet, to catch it and spread it to every gathering. "The droplets of saliva that commonly known as talking to them and that contain the virus will be shipped to the same distance when you speak, when you sneeze or when you cough. The gestures barriers will have to stay the same, " says the doctor.
therefore, the essential principle of these meetings remains the social distancing. "This is not necessarily intuitive, but wherever we can we will have to continue to put space between the tables and the chairs, it is the best prevention ", pointed out Jean-Christophe Nogrette. "The mask should also remain a decisive factor because it limits the distance at which the infectious particles can be projected and the way in which one can receive," adds the doctor.
Adopt new habits to reduce the risk of the spread
If it seems somewhat realistic to wear a mask all the time for a weekend in family or between friends, the doctor insists on the importance of washing their hands regularly, but also to clean regularly on the common parts of the houses. "The droplets that are spread in the environment of someone who is contagious has a downward path and will land inevitably in the middle of the table, in the middle of the chairs, on the edge of the sink, it is therefore essential to disinfect all of these surfaces as often as possible ", said Jean-Christophe Nogrette.
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Finally, if the group configuration does not allow the observance of any of these measures of barriers, it is then necessary to consider as a person at risk and "avoid all other social contact," warns the doctor, who adds : "It is a role that altruistic that we need to adopt to protect the population. "
is there, in the event of a holiday or a weekend, to observe a period of quarantine prior to review of new people ?
"The idea of a second containment between friends works very well if there are sick among those who gather," explains Jean-Christophe Nogrette. But for the doctor, for such gatherings, as short as they are, pose immediately the question of asymptomatic persons who provide the virus around them. According to the figures of the epidemiologists, there would be between 20% and 30% of French carriers of the virus, which excrete it into the environment, without however presenting any symptoms.
" The problem is that we don't know how long is the asymptomatic shedding. These people are not tested because they do not have any symptoms. Therefore, it is difficult to observe this phenomenon with precision, " says the doctor.
True or false ? "The virus could disappear with the arrival of summer"
at the End of April, the now famous professor Didier Raoult, strongly challenged for its promotion of a treatment of the Covid-19 to the base of chloroquine, has called the epidemic " disease seasonal ", suggesting that the virus might disappear with the arrival of summer. In an interview to BFM TV, he said : "It is possible that within a month there are more cases in most of the temperate countries. This is a significant possibility. "Despite this output heavily commented, and it should be remembered that the seasonality of the virus is highly debated among scientists.
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" For elements that are actually reliable on that, it would be that there has been at least a year of surveillance of the virus. However, this thesis seems to be unlikely in the extent where the temperatures observed in the Hubei province [in southern China] in the past, in hong Kong or South Korea, are high and similar to those that we at this moment among us, and this has not prevented the spread of the virus, " warns Jean-Christophe Nogrette.
car Rides : the mask remains necessary precautions
" The car is a closed space, in which there is usually a ventilation system. So if you are not wearing the mask, you're sure to pass it on to others if you have it, " said the doctor. The latter is even estimated that this would be a "catastrophe" if a small family or groups who do not live together were to take the road of many, and without a mask.
The major holidays are usually the time of the reunion between grandparents and grandchildren. People at risk, seniors can reasonably find their grandchildren this summer ?
"it All depends on the route that have had children in the period before going to see the grandparents," observes Jean-Christophe Nogrette. The doctor recommends a quatorzaine home before the children leave to join their grandparents. "In principle, they are not very contaminated and not very contaminants, therefore, there is not a huge risk. In practice, it is not necessary that they have gone to the school in the fourteen days preceding the reunion, and once again, we'll have to see how it carries and to respect a minimum of precautions at least at the beginning of the holiday, " advises the doctor.
The French living abroad will have to observe a quatorzaine to their return in France ?
Here, again, no answer strictly positive or negative. In France, the French travellers and permanent residents of France arriving from a country outside the european Union are invited to submit to a quarantine of fourteen days on a "voluntary" since the Wednesday, 20 may.
What about people who have been sick ? Can they still transmit the virus, or are they immune ?
" This is an issue that is well studied at this time. Most of the people who have been ill stop shedding the virus after a couple of days. But in some cases – and this is not necessarily among the people who were the most sick, who are shedding virus extended ", notes Jean-Christophe Nogrette. Among these cases, doctors have a time believed to be a risk of re-infection. "In studying the virus, it was realized that these are not people who réinfectent since they have the same virus signatures with the initial episode of the disease. Thus, when one tests a month or two months after, one still finds the virus. This is the same virus, it is just that these people have not been able to stop shedding the bacteria, " concludes the doctor.
