During the Covid-19 health crisis, many new measures were put in place. Controls, curfews or school closures to avoid cases of infection, hospitalization and death. After three years, what conclusions can we draw?
Until now, little data was available to measure the effectiveness of measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid. However, this work is essential, if only to prepare for possible new epidemics.
Control effectiveness
It is in this state of mind that researchers from Bordeaux*, using a mathematical model, have precisely estimated the impact of control measures, curfews and vaccinations. Their results show that “The most restrictive measures, such as confinement and curfews, have had a significant impact on reducing transmission of the virus. The first lockdown was the most effective with an 84% reduction in transmission. A 6pm curfew was more effective than an 8pm curfew (68% reduction compared to 48%).“Their simulation further indicated that 20,000 deaths in captivity would have been avoided a week earlier.”It is obviously a tough decision to confine the entire country but these results may contribute to quick decision-making in the context of a resurgence of the epidemic.“, cite the authors.
For school closures, though their effect was more limited, “They still reduced the transmission by 15%.“
Vaccination saved lives
As for vaccines, their absence may have caused “France had 159,000 additional deaths and 1.48 million more hospitalizations“. That’s double the death toll since the pandemic killed 116,000 people in our country and hospitalized 460,000.
note down : While distancing measures have undeniably saved lives, other work highlights the insidious impact of health crises on mental health (anxiety, suicidal thoughts, etc.).
*Associated with Canadian researchers from the University and CHU of Bordeaux, INSERM and the Inaria Center of the University of Bordeaux, McGill University (Montreal).
