How will the beginning of 2021 happen? Shall we fear a major rise in the new case toll and a third wave? This is what many specialists fear, including head of the Scientific committee, Jean-François Delfraissy.
Institut Pasteur Professor Arnaud Fontanet also dreads the first couple of months of the new year. “The first three months of 2021 will be arduous because winter will be in full swing without feeling, on the collective level, the benefits expected from vaccine” the epidemiologist said on December 20 in Journal du Dimanche.
“Once vulnerable people, a third of the population, will be vaccinated, undoubtedly at the end of the first semester, the pressure will decrease” the professor and member of the Scientific Committee said.
To maintain so, Arnaud Fontanet relies on the current data, said preoccupying a few days prior to Christmas. He is especially worried about a “high plateau” of the Covid-19 hospitalization toll. “It stagnates around 1,500 admissions per day for three weeks. Prior to the Holidays, this high plateau does not look good” the professor says.
As for the future, Fontanet rules reviewing the strategy to fight the epidemic before mid-January out. How come? “The period between contamination and possible hospitalization. […] This highly risky period cannot be assessed before mid-January” he concludes.