France’s Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region will be implementing its ‘white plan’ in hospitals as it struggles to cope with the highest number of Covid patients in the country.
Nearby Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur (PACA) has joined Corsica in launching the emergency measure to counter a fourth wave of the virus, being driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
According to the latest government data, intensive care occupancy has reached 43% in the PACA, compared to 26% nationally, with 197 ICU patients in the region’s hospitals.
The ‘white plan’ (plan blanche) means that hospitals can prepare for a forthcoming rise in cases, including measures such as reorganising spaces to include more beds, transferring non-urgent patients to other services, and postponing or changing non-urgent operations.
The move comes as no surprise. The incidence rate in the Alpes-Maritimes, a department of PACA, has skyrocketed in recent weeks to reach 733 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a national incidence rate of 225.
Activation of the white plan is expected to make an additional 100 ICU beds available within the week, as health staff are called back from vacation.
According to reports, the average age of patients in the region is 54 and almost all are unvaccinated.
The city of Bastia in Corsica reactivated its white plan last week for a minimum period of four weeks, with the hospital more than 79% occupied.
 
 
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