Why is the UK getting more cases than France?

[TheYearOfSmallThings]

The UK started vaccinating before France, and there has been a lot of vaccine resistance in France. But their Delta wave was smaller, and continues to decline after peaking, whereas the UK's has plateaued. Life is fairly normal in both countries now.

I'm sure there is an explanation for this that I'm missing, and I'm hoping this board is the place to find it?

Yes but lockdown 1 will be having no bearing on current cases as that was well over a year ago.

They didn’t lockdown when they hit high cases this April. Macron said no more lockdowns after the one last December. So it can’t be the strict first lockdown.

Maybe the ongoing restrictions rather than lurching from one extreme to another.

Though I do wonder how long they will keep masks if Covid is going to be circulating forever.

If it’s ongoing restrictions wouldn’t cases be more even? If you look at graphs they have very high peaks like us, just different times

@DobbyTheHouseElk

In France they don’t use LFT. Only PCR on symptomatic people. Also they now have to pay for a PCR test so they will have less positive cases.

This is not correct IME. We have done both kinds of testing. Tests are still free if you are vaccinated.

I think they’re just at a different stage then. Which seems to happen with this virus. They had a peak Nov we were two months behind in Jan.
They had another surge in April we had ours over summer.

What most interests me is how did they bring their cases down after April with no lockdown. At that stage surely their vaccination levels weren’t that high?

@Delatron

That’s interesting *@Wallywobbles* are you doing booster jabs now?

Yes. Mil has had hers. And she's in hospital now for an op and had to be pcr tested as well as being vaccinated before admission.

Well that’s interesting. My friend in France told me that the French government don’t use LFT at all, PCR only.

She’s very anti-UK. I don’t have any way of verifying what she says, if I try she shouts me down.

Interesting as she links to French newspapers that say PCR testing will not be free at all by the end of this month.

That sounds good @Wallywobbles

Being strict on vaccinations seems to be working well.

I think we could always do more over here with regards to hospitals. There should be a real focus on that now.

@Delatron

I think they’re just at a different stage then. Which seems to happen with this virus. They had a peak Nov we were two months behind in Jan. They had another surge in April we had ours over summer.

What most interests me is how did they bring their cases down after April with no lockdown. At that stage surely their vaccination levels weren’t that high?

I agree and really don’t know. Maybe it was the delta hit but it did go down which is pretty good considering

Maybe delta hit them when their cases were quite high with the previous strain in April? So it struggled to get a hold.

Whereas delta hit us fresh out of lockdown when we had suppressed the previous milder strain. This is pure speculation with no scientific basis but makes me wonder.

@DobbyTheHouseElk

Well that’s interesting. My friend in France told me that the French government don’t use LFT at all, PCR only.

She’s very anti-UK. I don’t have any way of verifying what she says, if I try she shouts me down.

Interesting as she links to French newspapers that say PCR testing will not be free at all by the end of this month.

Definitely not accurate on her part. We test 3 ways now. Self tests are also now available.

Comfort tests (non symptomatic) will be paid for.

Tests for suspected cases or medical reasons are still reimbursed at 100%.

My hypothesis is that it is a combination of the (i) timing of vaccinations and (ii) vaccines used.

France vaccinated the majority of its population more recently than the UK so it might not yet be seeing the same level of waning immunity as UK and Israel. It also used more mRNA vaccines that appear to offer higher protection against symptomatic infection in the short run.

It also used more mRNA vaccines that appear to offer higher protection against symptomatic infection in the short run

Yes I was also wondering if this might be part of the reason.
(I think UK boosters are all going to be Pfizer aren't they?)

@Wallywobbles in the schools, are things normal apart from the masks? ie all the lessons happening normally with groups and no distancing? And all the extracurricular?

I teach Dance and Musical Theatre and it would be nigh on impossible to do this in masks. We had a brief period where the children had to sing in masks in March/April/May but they've always taken them off to dance and perform. I don't think I could teach if we had to keep to masks.

In college (11 -15) things have been normal since October with masks.

In Lycee it's back to normal now but was half in half at home. One case in the in group and they were sent home.

Uni was all at home apart from science practicals etc

She’s very anti-UK. I don’t have any way of verifying what she says, if I try she shouts me down. @DobbyTheHouseElk

I avoid the UK bashing Brits.
All countries have their faults.
France fails spectacularly at customer service.

All the walk in tests I have had (pre travel) were LFT/Antigen, performed by a Pharmacist, result available in 15’ish minutes.

If you’re symptomatic or a contact AFAIK a PCR is needed, those are usually done at one of the local labs.

My French BIL was only given 1 astrazeneca vaccine and declared fully vaccinated as he had previously had covid.
So I think their percentage of "fully vaccinated" people is potentially a different measure than in the UK.

@Payproblems

Did delta ever get a proper hold there?

@Payproblems

Yes, most cases were Delta by mid-July, so there very likely to be virtually all cases by now.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-pm-covid-delta-variant-is-now-majority-covid-variant-france-2021-07-21/

FWIW according to the Touscovid app, data from 4 days ago..95.4% of tests nationwide are showing a prescence of the L452R mutation.

I think it is difficult to compare two countries as there are so many different factors. Also many of the opinions on this thread are based on what we are fed by the media as well as individual experiences which don't represent the full picture.

To add to this pool of snippets of information, it is worth pointing out that when France was in initial lockdown, we were confirmed to within 1km and for much of 2020 were not permitted to travel outside of our own regions and there was also a 30km radius, remembering the population density discussions, these represent fewer people than in the UK.

According to a quick unverified google, France issues 1,000,000 lockdown fines, the UK issued 70,000.

The comments about not policing numbers in your own home are only relevant after October 2020, as before that there was a real feeling that any non essential mixing during the tighter rules times, was not allowed. The clarification about policing in our homes came after a legal challenge citing freedoms enshrined in the constitution.

@NormaSwilly

My French BIL was only given 1 astrazeneca vaccine and declared fully vaccinated as he had previously had covid. So I think their percentage of "fully vaccinated" people is potentially a different measure than in the UK.

When I went for my first vaccine I got a blood test to check whether antibodies were high enough to mean that I did not need a second vaccine. Does the UK not do that?

When I went for my first vaccine I got a blood test to check whether antibodies were high enough to mean that I did not need a second vaccine. Does the UK not do that?

No thank god, I wouldn't have had it if they did!

It was just a prick on the finger! like a diabetes test

When I went for my first vaccine I got a blood test to check whether antibodies were high enough to mean that I did not need a second vaccine. Does the UK not do that?

No! We had 2 jabs and that was that. Why didn’t you get a second jab?

That's the same in Italy. If you've had Covid, one dose.