The prefect of Côte-d’Or and the director general of ARS Bourgogne-Franche-Comté were invited by the mayor of Dijon to speak to the municipal representation on Monday, February 1. The prefect spoke of the local vaccination objectives while the director of the ARS indicated that the region still resisted the spread of variants of the coronavirus.
During an extraordinary municipal council dedicated to the health crisis, the mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamen (PS), wanted the prefect of Côte-d’Or, Fabien Sudry, and the director general of the Regional Agency for Health of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Pierre Pribile, set up an information point in front of all the municipal representation gathered this Monday, February 1, 2021 in the premises of Dijon Métropole.
“The crisis has highlighted the importance of all our health systems”, declares François Rebsamen in the preamble, welcoming “the exceptional work of caregivers and helping staff” in public and private hospitals, paramedical structures and even homes. of retirement.
Even if the first vaccines came from companies established outside France – including a first messenger RNA vaccine produced by Pfizer thanks to a partnership with the German company BioNTech – François Rebsamen insisted on “the exceptional luck of having at the end one year of vaccines 95% effective ”.
According to the first city councilor, the situation revealed “the solidity of the local public service” and highlighted “modest professions” such as personal services as well as the activity of shops, household waste services, water and “everything that makes up the quality of life in a city”. Before giving the floor to the prefect, the mayor salutes “the solidarity of the French”.
“The Dijon economy is more resistant to difficulties”
Although “the situation remains worrying”, the prefect wishes to put into perspective the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic in relation to our European neighbors, signaling a rebound in the United Kingdom or in Spain “75% higher than the French rebound ”.
In Burgundy-Franche-Comté, the incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 246 in the general population, more than the French average which stands at 211 to date. The department of Côte-d’Or is back in the average, as well as the Dijon metropolis. 284 patients are hospitalized in Côte-d’Or, including 31 in an intensive care unit. The prefect points out that “the CHU is on the front line” and salutes the teams for “their flawless mobilization”.
The territorial services of the State are “fully mobilized on several fronts”: health, economic and concerning social cohesion. “With the mayors, the state services are holding up,” insists the prefect. “The police and gendarmerie deserve to be encouraged,” he said.
“Never had the State intervened in such a large and rapid way to support the economy”, insists Fabien Sudry to evoke the preservation of employment. In 2020, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté received one billion euros in direct aid. 60,000 companies have benefited from the solidarity fund, 46,000 have resorted to partial activity. 350,000 employees have been secured by these devices. The loan guaranteed by the State made it possible to provide 3.4 billion euros in loans for 26,300 companies.
In Côte-d’Or, 9,500 companies benefited from the partial activity, 12,200 from the solidarity fund and 5,350 from the EMP for 942 million euros. Dijon companies are among those who have used these devices. The prefect also observes that “the Dijon economy, more diversified, is more resistant to difficulties” thanks in particular to companies in the health sector.
3.5 billion euros from France Relance for Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
The France Relance plan, which aims to adapt the French economy to make it “more competitive, more united, more sovereign and more respectful of the challenges of ecological transition”, is available through the financing of projects within the Dijon metropolis: energy renovation of 43 projects for an amount of 19 million euros, rehabilitation of the Saint-Bénigne cathedral for one million euros, industrial development support to Corden Pharma for 800,000 euros, construction of a methanation plant for 5 million euros or the creation of an urban farm in the Fontaine d’Ouche district for 525,000 euros. For the future, the Prefect is counting on a global mobilization, on a regional scale, of credits from France Relance amounting to 3.5 billion euros.
“This lasting crisis affects many fellow citizens, especially the most vulnerable”, recognizes Fabien Sudry before discussing social measures. Emergency accommodation has been reinforced with a “zero refusal mode” accompanied by the creation of additional places. Appropriations for food aid have increased from 360,000 euros in 2019 to 3 million euros in 2020. The back-to-school aid has been increased. The city’s policy budget has been revised upwards by 10%.
Target 30,000 vaccinations in Côte-d’Or by the end of February
“To emerge permanently from this crisis, the vaccination of the population is the most tangible hope”, anticipates the prefect. A campaign that has aroused strong enthusiasm among the population with, in Côte-d’Or, 14,000 appointments made on Doctolib in a few days. In the department, at the end of January, 18,000 vaccinations had taken place. In Dijon, 2,270 people received an injection in a vaccination center.
“There is no hidden reserve of vaccine”, asserts the prefect if necessary, adding that “all the doses are distributed in proportion to the target population of each department”. On the other hand, it is “necessarily to stop the first vaccination to give priority to people in attention of their second vaccination” and “the constraint on the vaccines is the only reason for the limitation of the appointments” (read the press release). At the end of February, the state representative expects 30,000 people vaccinated (130,000 in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté).
The “dreaded scenario” of an epidemic wave of variants
Speaking, Pierre Pribile provides details on the health situation and taking care to emphasize that “Burgundy-Franche-Comté has never really come down from its second wave”. Since October, the region has maintained a high level of circulation of the virus and on a “high plateau” of hospitalizations. The second epidemic wave is now spreading to other French regions.
The third epidemic wave could consist of the diffusion of variants and come in addition to the second wave, “a formidable scenario” according to Pierre Pribile. To date, variants of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus have been detected in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: VOC 202012/01 (known as “British” but present in more than twenty countries including Portugal) and 501Y.V2 ( known as “South African” but also present in fewer numbers in twenty countries including the United Kingdom) (read the press release). While at the end of January, at national level 3.2% of positive cases were due to variants, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté was only concerned by 0.2% (7% in Île-de-France).
Environmentalists ask to keep “deadlines to finally be able to mass vaccinate the population”
Once these aspects have been exposed, the time comes for the interventions of the presidents of the municipal groups. First to speak for the opposition group Ecologists and Citizens, Stéphanie Modde insists on meeting “deadlines to finally be able to mass vaccinate the population”. The ecologist asks the prefect “a concerted and transparent management to protect fellow citizens and live more serenely without fear of illness, difficult ends of the month and social isolation”.
In response, the prefect lists all the information times already organized: metropolitan committee, meeting with representatives of the main communities in the department, meeting at regional level with the president of the region and the social partners, unions and employers, always at the regional level with the main communities and finally at the departmental level, vaccination monitoring with 19 inter-municipal authorities and mayors.
For the opposition group Agir ensemble pour Dijon, Céline Renaud, poses the question of the “method” to the prefect and asks “a local strategy” to the mayor of Dijon. In response, the prefect evokes the difficulty of anticipating “a very evolving crisis”; “You have to have a capacity for reactivity and adaptation to the evolution of the virus”.
The Modem raises the question of access to a psychologist
President of the group of elected Democrats, ecologists, centrists and citizens which is associated with the municipal majority, François Deseille insists on a “much too old fragility” and in particular “dependence vis-à-vis Asia on drugs”. He asks for “dedicated platforms” to ensure “psychological monitoring” of people made vulnerable by the crisis.
In reaction, the prefect refuses to share “a too negative vision” because the situation also reveals “courageous citizens concerned with the public interest” as well as a public organization which “holds up and responds to what is being done. expects from her ”.
The director of the ARS also adds a positive note, recalling the fear of an epidemic rebound linked to the end-of-year celebrations: “there has not been the slightest rebound in hospitalizations in Dijon, ( …) Which means to what extent our fellow citizens have shown themselves to be extremely responsible ”.
Regarding mental health, Pierre Pribile recognizes that the current systems are “difficult to read” and refers people looking to listen to the general information number for guidance: 0 800 130 000. About access to a psychologist outside health establishments accompanied by health insurance coverage, the director of ARS also recognizes that “this is part of the progress that can be expected” and indicates that the agency is working on opening of psychologist positions in multi-professional health centers.
ARS director responds to socialists on critical care strategy
President of the Socialist, Radical, Citizen and Related Majority Group, Nathalie Koenders chooses to stress “the astonishing slowness and lack of transparency” at the start of the vaccination campaign. The Socialist asks the prefect that association volunteers can benefit “primarily” from vaccination. The prefect rejects such an adaptation of the vaccination campaign, indicating that the security forces and public service agents have made such requests, receiving a negative response to date.
For his part, Pierre Pribile provides a more nuanced answer. Among the constraints of the vaccination campaign, the recommendations of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines as well as their storage method (in super-freezers) induce to target first of all a small proportion of the population (those over 75 representing 5 million people). In contrast, the AstraZeneca vaccine does not impose the same logistical constraints. If it is not recommended for older people, then vaccination of younger people could start “sooner”.
In response to another question from Nathalie Koenders, Pierre Pribile defeats a preconceived idea: “resuscitation and critical care beds are increasing regularly in our country”. It is the other beds which are decreasing “due to the development of ambulatory care”. The director of the ARS underlines that these “beds” in fact represent human resources attached to a critical care service. “Outside of the crisis, we would have staff half occupied” anticipates Pierre Pribile in the event of a significant increase in such “beds”.
The health authority is moving more towards “a form of resuscitation service with variable geometry” according to Pierre Pribile. This implies a real estate reorganization of health establishments to bring together the various critical care services “in the same continuum” and to constitute “a reserve army of personnel trained in intensive care” with doctors and nurses in order to “go up in capacity ”in the event of a new crisis.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
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