At Christmas, there were oysters, turkey, and viruses around the table. So, during this beautiful celebration of sharing and gifts, the nasty microbes took hold. Result: at the start of the year, a severe flu epidemic, which mainly knocks out the youngest. But which also sends the elders to the hospital, with serious respiratory failure. The emergencies are saturated: it was necessary to trigger, including in Toulouse, the white plan. Virologists are not optimistic for the days to come and fear that the contagion will increase. And we then say to ourselves that in terms of prevention, we may have missed something. And we can guess the reason.
Indeed, we were all more or less traumatized by the Covid 19 period, five years ago already. We found ourselves having to wear a mask, and it was a painful experience. This FFP2 muzzle on our siskins has undoubtedly preserved our organisms, but has standardized and anonymized us. This period is now likened to a sort of exile, and for some of us, putting on a mask again today plunges us back into this confinement of yesterday. Also, despite the risks, very few French people in December faced the crowds in stores with a mask, which would perhaps have limited the damage at the beginning of January. In the same vein, who, today, still has the reflex of “barrier gestures”? Who takes care to rub their hands with the hydroalcoholic solution? Moreover, the product is very rare in the public domain: the gel has melted.
Also read:
Flu: emergencies are saturated in Toulouse… why the CHU is triggering the white plan
Second, more sneaky and more worrying consequence of this Covid episode: an anti-vax wave that has disturbed many minds. According to some studies, despite the effectiveness of vaccines against Covid, the pandemic has contributed to reinforcing distrust against vaccination in general. This fall, the campaign for those over 65 started really very late, certainly too late: reckless procrastination!
-Also read:
Flu: the epidemic is at its highest… is there still time to get vaccinated?
The lesson we can learn from this is that as soon as we let our guard down a little, viruses take advantage. We are in a globalized world which is “shattering” pathologies from one end of the planet to the other. If the microbe doesn’t come in there, it will come in here. It would be very naive to think of always escaping it.
The flu is a serious illness, sometimes fatal for the most vulnerable. So, perhaps it is better to resolve to put on a mask again in the metro, wash your hands when you get home and of course, go to the pharmacist for a double vaccination: hop, Covid in the right arm, flu in the left . At the start of the year, this deserved a reminder.
