On Tuesday, it was Prefect Bernard Gonzales who sounded the alarm with an alarming presentation of the situation. The Alpes-Maritimes is the department with the highest incidence in mainland France, with a rate of 447 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and even over 500 in the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolitan area. The national average is about 250/100,000. It goes to show!
This Wednesday, it was Christian Estrosi who took over. The Mayor of Nice, President of the Metropolis, convened the Scientific Council, which gathers all health actors and specialists, and faced with a tense situation that risks getting out of control, it was decided to reinforce the measures taken and add others. Indeed, when dealing with major problems, major solutions must be employed to avoid falling into disarray.
First of all, communication regarding the adoption of preventive measures. Teams will be on the ground to remind the recalcitrant of best practices. The second measure is the analysis of wastewater discharged from planes stopping over at Nice Côte d’Azur airport.
“By checking the wastewater from the toilets of these aircraft without delay, we will know what risks we are facing. At the very least, for long-haul flights, we will be able to analyze the viruses brought to us from other territories,” explained Christian Estrosi during his speech at the Metropolitan Council session following the Scientific Health Council.
The sequencing in wastewater is still uncommon in France but is already practiced in the city and the metropolis and helps to know the epidemic situation and locate it before it manifests in people.
In this regard, Nice Côte d’Azur airport reminds that there are no long-haul flights departing from or arriving in Nice at the moment, and all passengers (except domestic flights) can only board after presenting a negative PCR test performed 72 hours before.
Finally, although hypermarkets and non-food shopping centers of more than 20,000 m2 are currently closed, Christian Estrosi wants to limit customer concentration as much as possible in those that are open. Thus, he also wishes that “counting in large stores be done per person and not per family and to be very strict about respecting preventive measures.” In short, the capacity is set at 50% with one token per family, which is too much for him.
In addition to these actions to curb the spread of the virus, Christian Estrosi, who, let us recall, is the ex-officio President of the Board of Directors of the Nice University Hospital, revisited a sensitive topic for which he calls for a partnership between all health actors: each citizen must be treated with the highest chance of survival possible, without considering other criteria such as age and collateral comorbidity conditions.
Christian Estrosi thus plans to gather all health actors, doctors, the University Hospital, and private clinics at the beginning of next week for a complementary approach in care management.
Still within the framework of the anti-Covid strategy, the Metropolitan Council approved implementing a vaccination campaign against Covid-19 for the staff of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, the city of Nice, and its Social Action Community Center, and their departments presenting aggravating pathologies or having one or more comorbidities.
Similarly, a solidarity action plan has been put forward for students who find themselves in a situation of great precariousness due to the health crisis. They will be able to benefit, upon request, from several actions to combat psychological distress, isolation, and precariousness.
