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. Subsequently, after three weeks of stagnation in the number of emergency
department 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. A slight increase in the weekly incidence of new cases and in Covid-19 activity reported by SOS Médecins associations was observed in week 23 of 2020.

What’s new in this epidemiological update for the region?

In week 24 of 2020 (June 8–14), the number of tests performed in the region rose sharply compared to previous weeks (+6,200 compared to week 23 of 2020), while the number of new biologically confirmed cases (357) and the incidence rate (6.5 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants) are decreasing compared to week 23 of 2020, which saw 486 new cases, representing an incidence of 8.8 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The regional incidence remains higher than the national incidence (4.2 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants), and 16 weeks after its emergence in the region, the virus is still circulating. In week 24 of 2020, all departments in the region had a weekly incidence
rate below the threshold of 10 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with the exception of Meuse and Meurthe-et-Moselle, which recorded 17.1 and 20.4 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. In these two departments, however, the trend is downward compared to the previous week. In Haute-Marne (4.1 per 100,000 inhabitants) and Vosges (5.6 per 100,000 inhabitants), the weekly incidence rate has increased significantly compared to week 23 of 2020, while remaining well below the alert threshold. These local increases in the number of new cases do not indicate a resurgence of the epidemic, but serve as a reminder that vigilance and adherence to social distancing measures are still essential. Covid-19 activity reported by the region’s five SOS Médecins associations and the number of emergency room visits for suspected Covid-19 have declined again compared to the previous week (by 37% and 27%, respectively). At the same time, the number of new hospitalizations continues to decline sharply, with 123 new hospitalizations in week 24 of 2020 (compared to 233 the previous week, a 47% decrease). The number of new admissions to intensive care units (n=25) is stable compared to the previous week. As of June 17, 2020, 56 clusters or episodes of grouped cases have been identified since May 11 (13 more than the previous week). No uncontrolled community spread (occurrence of new cases outside the cluster and linked to it) has been reported.