One in five Covid hospital patients are now aged under 49, the Regional Health Agency for the PACA region has announced, noting a steep rise in younger intensive care patients.
The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) region has seen a giant leap in coronavirus cases over the last weeks, primarily in the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, spurring the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to warn that hospitals are quickly becoming overwhelmed as the demand for beds rises, especially in intensive care.
The sector of society who has seen the most dramatic jump in intensive care stays is the under-49s, who now account for one in five patients admitted.
“To date, one in five people who entered intensive care for Covid in July is between 20 and 49 years old,” says the Health Authority. “This increase is worrying given the summer context: strong tourist influx increasing the demand for care and reduction in nursing human resources due to leave.”
In just 10 days, the incidence rate has multiplied by six in the Alpes-Maritimes. Whilst figures stood below 25 cases per 100,000 per week at the start of July, today they sit close to a frightening 600. To put this is in other terms, the area has gone from detecting roughly 40 new cases a day to nearly 1,000.
With nine out of 10 cases now classified as the highly contagious Delta variant, the Prefecture has reinstated some precautions, such as mandatory mask-wearing outdoors.
The coastal areas have borne the brunt of the cases, not a huge surprise given they are where the highest concentration of tourists are in summer. Between Théoule-sur-Mer and Nice, only one town, Cagnes-sur-Mer, has an incidence rate under 500 and when stretching to the Monaco borders, only Beaulieu and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin are below 250.
 
 
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