Summary

What is currently known about the situation in the Grand Est region?

The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were recorded in week 09-2020 (February 24–March 1), and the peak of the outbreak occurred in week 13-2020 (March 23–29), with 4,116 emergency room visits for suspected COVID-19 (six times the activity typically seen for influenza and flu-like illness during the peak week of a typical flu season) and 1,494 consultations at the region’s five SOS Médecins clinics. The number of hospital admissions for COVID-19 peaked in week 14 of 2020 (March 30–April 5) with 3,777 new hospitalizations, including 648 in intensive care units (compared to 471 ICU beds under normal conditions). That week, the region also recorded a record-high excess mortality across all medical causes, with a 116% increase in excess mortality compared to the same period in previous years. Since then, thanks to the general lockdown measures, all epidemiological surveillance indicators—COVID-19 activity in urban areas (SOS Médecins associations and general practitioners participating in the Sentinelles network) and in emergency departments, positive test rates in private and hospital medical laboratories, hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units for COVID-19, and COVID-19-related deaths reported by healthcare facilities—have been trending downward. Then, after three weeks of stagnation in the number of emergency room visits for suspected Covid-19, along with a slight increase in Covid-19 activity reported by the SOS Médecins associations, and the identification of several clusters of cases, epidemiological surveillance indicators were once again trending downward in week 22 of 2020.

What’s new in this Update for the region?

In week 23 of 2020 (June 1–7), the virus is still circulating in the region at a higher level than the previous week. With 486 new diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and a weekly incidence of 8.8 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants—double the national weekly incidence (4.3 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants)— the Grand Est region remains, four weeks after the lifting of lockdown measures, the metropolitan region most affected by COVID-19. The previous week, only 402 new cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed, with a weekly incidence of 7.3 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
In week 23 of 2020, all departments in the region had a weekly incidence rate below the threshold of 10 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and lower than the previous week, with the exception of Meuse (27 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants), Meurthe-et-Moselle (22.2 per 100,000 inhabitants), and Marne (19.5 per 100,000 inhabitants). These three departments saw their weekly incidence rates increase significantly compared to week 22 of 2020. While these local increases in case numbers do not impact the healthcare system and do not signal a resurgence of the epidemic, they serve as a reminder that the virus has not yet disappeared and that strict adherence to preventive measures and social distancing must remain the rule, under all circumstances.
Although Covid-19 activity reported by the region’s five SOS Médecins associations is slightly higher than the previous week (+6%), the number of emergency room visits for suspected Covid-19 has again dropped significantly compared to the previous week (-36%). At the same time, the number of new hospitalizations and new admissions to intensive care units continues to decline sharply, with 233 new hospitalizations in week 23 of 2020 (compared to 306 the previous week, a 24% decrease), including 24 in intensive care units compared to 43 the previous week (a 44% decrease).