Key Points

COVID-19

In Week 10 in Normandy, epidemic surveillance indicators continue to rise. Incidence rates are increasing in all departments, and positivity rates are rising in the departments of Seine-Maritime, Eure, and Orne. Testing activity is on the rise. The effective reproduction number, which reflects the rate of spread, is stable but remains above 1.

In hospitals, there has been a slight decrease in new hospital admissions, but the total number of patients in general wards and intensive care units is rising compared to the previous week. The number of patients who died during hospitalization has decreased slightly.

The vaccination campaign continues; 43% of nursing home residents and 32% of healthcare workers have received two doses.

In week 10, 54.3% of positive first-line tests (RT-PCR and antigen tests) recorded in SI-DEP were associated with a screening test (i.e., 3,361). Of these, 73.3% (2,602) corresponded to a suspected UK variant and 3.10% (137) to a suspected ZA or BR variant. The Eure and Seine-Maritime departments had, respectively, 81% and 76% of suspected UK variants, Calvados 67%, Orne 70%, and Manche 45%. The proportion of suspected cases of the ZA or BR variants was 14.7% in Calvados, 5.1% in Calvados, and less than 2% in the other departments.

Bronchiolitis

In Week 10, bronchiolitis activity decreased in emergency departments and at SOS-médecin, reaching moderate levels. However, this trend needs to be confirmed, as bronchiolitis activity has just been classified as an epidemic. Nineteen RSV cases were isolated by the Rouen University Hospital laboratory.

Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis activity is increasing to a high level at SOS-médecin and is also increasing at a moderate level in emergency departments. The incidence of acute diarrhea is decreasing and is at a level comparable to previous years during the same period.

Mortality

The age-standardized mortality rate in the Normandy region is no longer elevated in week 9. The data still needs to be consolidated. The number of deaths observed among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 is slightly lower in week 10 compared to the previous week.