The decline took a while to set in, but the latest bulletin from the Regional Health Agency shows that the coronavirus is receding day by day. With 57 people hospitalized in the Hautes-Pyrénées region, this is already a third fewer than at the peak of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic. A drop in the number of patients in intensive care, with 3 people today, also reflects the decrease in serious cases and means that staff at the Bigorre Hospital Center in Tarbes can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The overall picture is positive, with no deaths recorded in the last two days, and the number of people cured is increasing, as are the 8 people who have returned home in the last 24 hours. This figure demonstrates a positive trend in the coronavirus epidemic, which is acknowledged by a green status on the lockdown exit map.
Coronavirus in overall decline throughout Occitanie
The decline in coronavirus has taken hold throughout Occitanie, with 39 fewer people in hospitals, 156 fewer over the past week. And the number of patients being treated in intensive care is following the same trend. The departments through which the epidemic first entered the region are now those experiencing the sharpest decline. Only 11 people remain hospitalized in the Pyrénées-Orientales, which had as many as 129 at the peak of the epidemic on March 31. Aude, which recorded the first death on March 15, now has 31 people hospitalized, compared to 101 a month ago. And Hérault, which had the first confirmed case of COVID-19 coronavirus infection, has gone from 271 people hospitalized to 96 today, a drop of two-thirds. The departments that were affected later, particularly those in the west of the region, also saw less declines. Gers, which was still in orange a few days ago on the lockdown exit map, still has 28 people hospitalized after peaking at 52 on April 22nd. Hautes-Pyrénées still has 57 people hospitalized, out of the 86 people treated by the department's hospitals on April 14th. But the decline is well enough established that all departments in Occitanie are in green on the lockdown exit map and are therefore on track to be released in six days.
Will the lockdown exit begin on May 11th or will it be delayed?
During his speech at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had warned. I say this to the French people: if the indicators are not there, we will not lift the lockdown on May 11, or we will do so more strictly, explains Edouard Philippe. Yesterday, I received less favorable models from the Director General of Health. Perhaps because behaviors are relaxing a little, perhaps because the decline in hospitalizations is too slow, perhaps also because the assumptions on which the models are based will not prove to be accurate. I say this here before the national representation, with solemnity. These uncertainties must encourage all French people to exercise the greatest discipline between now and May 11 and to fight against the risks of relaxation that we sometimes sense are rising in the country. If everything is ready, as we believe it will be on May 11, then a phase will begin that will last until June 2. It will allow for verification that the measures implemented are sufficient to control the epidemic and, based on these developments, to assess the measures to be taken for the next phase, which will begin on June 2 and last until the summer. The government will provide an update on the easing of lockdown on Thursday, May 7. The plan presented by Édouard Philippe is based on the assumption that the number of new infections will decrease to 3,000 per day. If this number is exceeded, the government could decide to postpone the start date of the easing of lockdown or to do so in a more limited manner.
The Prime Minister explained that the start date of the easing of lockdown depended on the situation in each department. The Directorate General of Health and Public Health France have established three sets of criteria to identify departments where the lockdown should be more stringent. Either the case rate in the population over a seven-day period remains high, which would indicate that the virus is still circulating. Either regional hospital intensive care capacity remains stretched, or, this is the third set of criteria, the local system for testing and detecting chains of contamination is not sufficiently ready. These indicators, their reading, will be crystallized on May 7 to determine which departments will move on May 11 into the category, say, red (high circulation), or green (limited circulation). The deconfinement maps published by Public Health France every day color 13 departments of Occitanie green.
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