Faced with this new epidemic wave, one region after another is launching the white plan in hospitals. But caregivers deplore a cruel lack of manpower to cope.
Faced with a new epidemic wave that continues to gain ground, how will the hospital still resist? Health Minister Olivier Véran said this Thursday morning that the white plan, which deprograms “non-urgent” operations to prioritize Covid-19 patients, “will probably be national within a few days”.
Already in recent hours, no less than seven regions have chosen to switch to this hospital configuration. And this, even as the number of staff is shrinking due to illness or fatigue. A tense situation, as evidenced by Professor Vincent Bounes, director of Samu de Haute-Garonne at the microphone of BFMTV:
“We lack staff, there are people who have quit, a lot of caregivers have quit, not especially in relation to vaccines, they are tired, are fed up. The working conditions are harsh and it is difficult to see the end of the tunnel “he laments. “We have 20 to 30% of the beds that are likely to close by the end of the year, just for staff to take time off.”
Faced with this situation, Vincent Bounes hammers it: the vast majority of patients admitted to intensive care within his department are not vaccinated.
Vaccine misinformation
So, should more stringent measures have been taken a few weeks ago to try to stem this new wave? Difficult to say, according to Stéphane Gaudry, professor of intensive medicine-intensive care at the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny:
“There are choices that are made, you have to try to live with this virus, I understand these choices not to re-define, or to ask people to go home at 6 pm”, he believes. on BFMTV, before drawing up the report too: “We are triggering a blank plan, while there are beds that should be open in these services. And why are the beds closed? Because we lack trained staff. And we are not going to have this trained staff in the weeks or months to come “.
In Bobigny too, the profile of those admitted to intensive care is rather clear: patients between 20 and 75 years old, who are not vaccinated because they felt “not to be at risk”. Often, according to Professor Stéphane Gaudry, these patients say they have been “rolled in the flour” by disinformation about vaccination.
“I can tell you that when a patient happily leaves our services alive after having passed very close to death, he is well aware that he had been lied to, and we must fight against this disinformation”, pleads he does.
Glimmer of hope
So what will happen over the next few days, or weeks? In terms of the circulation of Covid-19 on the territory, Alain Ducardonnet, Health consultant for BFMTV, recalls that a glimmer of hope is perceptible.
First, the R0, the reproduction rate of the virus, seems to be decreasing, as does the number of cases observed. In other words, within ten days, the hospital peak could potentially be reached.
A date which would fall nevertheless during the holiday season, and which would solicit the hospital staff at the time of the holidays. One more difficulty for the hospital, faced with this new wave.
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