Emerging in China in November 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has killed more than five million people and infected 258 million. And it’s not over. A look back at two years of global health crisis.
Two years! For two years now, the world has been living with a new devastating virus that appeared, we don’t really know how, probably near Wuhan, China, in November 2019. Maybe before. In a few weeks, this unknown coronavirus spreads to every country on the planet. We have closely followed the evolution of the pandemic, its health, political, economic and social consequences in France and in the world. All the articles are to be found in our heading The coronavirus in real time. Or the Health section.
A mysterious coronavirus
Our first articles date from January 2020. A first paper of The Conversation followed by an IDJ article: “WHO triggers international emergency” and, in the same text: “Chinese coronavirus terrorizes the world”.
This virus did not have a definitive name yet. The scientific community will call it SARS-CoV-2 and the disease Covid-19. With its spiky crown, “Spike”, this new virus worries the world. It is spreading like wildfire, destabilizing many sectors of the world economy. The cause: the globalization of markets. By the end of February 2020, factories were shut down, planes were grounded, hotels were deserted, museums and theaters were closed. The price of oil is collapsing, the financial markets are plummeting. In one week, the CAC 40 has fallen by 12.9% in Paris. But this is only the beginning.
In France, the threat is maximal with 57 confirmed cases and two deaths (as of February 29, 2020). Most of the confirmed cases in March are linked to the epidemic outbreak in connection with the Lenten Week of the Church La Porte Ouverte Chrétienne of Bourtzwiller (Haut-Rhin). After that, everything will go fast.
“We are at war”.
On March 12, 2020, in a speech marked by solemnity, the head of state decreed general mobilization and announced measures to support the economy “Whatever it takes.”
While the number of deaths in hospitals was being added up, the executive maintained the municipal elections. They would be the cause of a rebound of the epidemic.
But on March 16, in a second televised address, Emmanuel Macron sounded the alarm: “We are at war,” he said, his tone serious, in a speech during which he announced the postponement of the second round of municipal elections. A nationwide lockdown was put in place starting Tuesday, March 17 at 12:00 noon. The law relating to the emergency in the face of the coronavirus epidemic was published in the Journal Officiel on March 24. France is frozen. The economy is collapsing. The list of deaths is growing day by day, especially in the Ehpad.
The first polemics on the management of the health crisis: lack of masks, lack of beds in hospitals, heroic work of the nursing staff that is applauded every evening at 8 pm. But also of the poorest people and of all those little hands that continue to ensure the essentials, in the supermarkets and the first necessity shops.
Confinement until May 11, 2020
The crisis reveals the state of decay of our institutions. In the hospitals, the situation is more than critical. The medical evacuations from one region to another are done on board of TGV or medicalized planes.
March 15, 2020: second round of municipal elections with a record abstention rate. The ARS (Regional Health Agency) announced the first two deaths in France: in Gironde and in Vienne.
In early April 2020, Christophe Lannelongue, director of the ARS Grand Est, was fired for having stated that the plan to cut 598 jobs and 174 beds at the Nancy Regional University Hospital (CHRU) would continue, causing a real outcry in the midst of a health crisis.
April 13, 2020: new speech by the President of the Republic. He announces another four weeks of confinement, until May 11.
In Marseille, Professor Didier Raoult announces that there is a drug to fight the epidemic: hydroxychloroquine.
April 21, 2020, we publish an article that challenges the scientific community: “What if everyone was wrong?
May 7: Hearing of Prof. Didier Raoult before the Social Affairs Commission of the Senate. He denounced the partiality of the Scientific Council in charge of advising the government and the links of interest that may exist with pharmaceutical laboratories.
July 20: Mandatory wearing of masks due to a rebound of the epidemic. Controversy erupts over the wearing of masks.
August 2020: Professor Didier Raoult returns to the media scene to denounce, among other things, the manipulation of scientific publications.
The COMETE Unit of the Marseilles Fire Department
October 14: Dr. Jean-Michel Wendling, from Strasbourg, scientific consultant for infodujour, reveals how to contain the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic thanks to a sampling strategy on wastewater by the COMETE unit of the Marseille marine firefighters battalion. Equipped with a high-performance mobile laboratory, it searches for biological pathogens in the environment.
October 19: Interview with three scientists who explain how the virus spreads.
October 22: The Prime Minister, Jean Castex, warned: “The coming weeks will be tough”.
October 28: announcement of an additional month of confinement. There were 37,435 deaths in France and 3,936 in the Grand Est.
November 10: The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated proceedings against X for the management of the health crisis.
November 16: Dr. Jean-Michel Wendling revealed that “Vitamin D could be of precious help in the fight against COVID 19″.
The race for vaccines
Several mega laboratories are proposing vaccines. Those of two laboratories, Pfizer and Moderna, are based on a new technology, messenger RNA vaccines.
December 5: Dr. Jean-Michel Wendling discusses the benefits and risks of vaccines with Dr. Jean-Marc Sabatier, Director of Research at the CNRS and Doctor of Cellular Biology and Microbiology, affiliated with the Institute of Neuro-Physiopathology (INP) in Marseille.
December 13: Dr. Jean-Michel Wendling insists on the need for hand hygiene, in particular, to avoid the spread of the virus.
December 21: Jean-Marc Sabatier made a fundamental discovery. He reveals, for the first time, that COVID-19-like diseases appear when a ubiquitous hormonal/physiological system in the human body, called the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), malfunctions, even in the absence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
December 22: Arrival of new variants, notably in the United Kingdom.
December 27: Dr. Jean-Michel Wendling proposes an incredible anti-Covid treatment with black cumin and honey.
2021: the epidemic starts again in France
January 6, 2021: The Executive calls on foreign firms to catch up and review its vaccine strategy.
January 14: Jean Castex announces a generalized curfew at 6 pm.
January 27: For Dr. Jean-Michel Wendling “The future of the epidemic is in our hands.
February 4: Is Ivermectin an effective treatment against Covic-19?
February 22: A revolutionary test called EasyCov
March 18: Sixteen departments reconfigured
March 31: Schools closed for three weeks
April 10: Side effects explode in Touraine
April 17: Vaccination is a big moneymaker for some
April 26: A new variant in India worries the world
May 11: The health pass is rejected and voted in the National Assembly.
May 19: shops and terraces reopen
May 28: Vaccines: what are the long-term effects?
May 31: polemic around the health pass.
June 2: The CHRU of Nancy conducts a unique study on the risks of thrombosis related to Covid-19.
June 8: How to avoid the deleterious effects of vaccines
June 17: 12 deaths in Belgium, they were all vaccinated
June 30: End of curfew
July 8: For or against mandatory vaccination?
July 12: Emmanuel Macron’s televised speech: it’s a case of make or break
Anti-pass demonstrations
July 14: Vaccination obligation for caregivers creates a cataclysm in health institutions.
July 16: Vaccinated against anti-Pass and anti-vax https://infodujour.fr/societe/51043-vaccination-obligatoire-et-pass-sanitaire-les-ferments-dune-guerre-civile
July 20: Extension of the Health Pass
July 23: The “health law” project is forced through the Assembly
July 24: anti-Pass demonstrations, soap opera of the summer
July 27: Covid-19 for dummies and others
August 3: a scientist against the vaccination of children
August 11: the dangers of the third dose
August 13: Vaccines tested against the Delta variant
August 22: Alain Bauer: “They have succeeded in killing science
August 27: Japan suspends 1.6 million doses of Moderna vaccine
August 28: Children’s vaccination in question
September 10: Agnès Buzyn put under examination
September 16: It’s hard to argue for mass vaccination against Covid-19 when you see what’s happening in Israel. Here is the reflection sent to us by one of our readers.
27 September: The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, refuses to reveal the content of her exchanges with the head of Pfizer for the purchase of vaccines.
October 12: 500 scientists alert the elected representatives on the generalized vaccination
October 23: Big uneasiness in the hospitals of France
Two and a half years after its appearance, probably in China, in November 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 at the origin of the disease Covid-19 has infected more than 258 million people, is the cause of more than 5 million deaths worldwide, including 119,000 in France. And more than 7.4 billion doses of vaccine have been administered.