► When to worry?
“We have before us a crisis, an epidemic that is coming”, said Emmanuel Macron this Thursday, February 27, during a visit to Pitié-Salpêtrière, the Paris hospital where the first French patient died of Covid-19 on the night of February 25. “We will have to face it at best”, continued the president, echoing the concerns of a doctor predicting in France “A situation like Italian”.
If the questions are legitimate, be careful not to give in at “Fatalism”, warns virologist Bruno Lina, for whom the epidemic can be contained if the French adopt a few simple reflexes. It starts with identifying the symptoms of the disease. Headache, runny nose, cough, body aches: “These are the symptoms of a classic flu”, summarizes Doctor Agnès Ricard-Hibon, head of service at Samu-Smur of the Pontoise hospital center (Val-d’Oise), and president of the French Society of Emergency Medicine (Sfmu).
A high fever and difficulty in breathing should particularly alert, as they can be a sign of complications. Symptoms to which we will be all the more attentive when we have stayed in a country contaminated by Covid-19, in particular China, northern Italy, South Korea and Iran, which have become active centers .
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More frequently affected by infectious diseases, the elderly or those suffering from chronic pathologies must remain vigilant.
► What to do in case of doubt?
“Above all, you shouldn’t go to the emergency room or your doctor, says Doctor Ricard-Hibon. When you have symptoms, the first thing to do is call 15. Our staff will be able to interrogate and assess health needs. ” A “Medical added value” that the toll-free number set up by the government (0 800 130 000) does not offer it, but it will nonetheless be able to answer questions from people without symptoms, and this every day from 8 am to 9 pm. A government site (www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus) also offers regularly updated information.
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For those returning from one of the affected countries, instructions have been given to stay at home. Constraints to isolation after their stay or to keep their child, these people will benefit “Work stoppage and daily allowances” up to 20 days, health minister Olivier Véran announced on Wednesday.
► What hygiene measures should be taken?
First steps to adopt: use disposable handkerchiefs and wash your hands regularly with soap or a hydroalcoholic solution. “A very effective product that is used when there is no water point nearby or to avoid washing your hands every ten minutes”, emphasizes doctor Ricard-Hibon. “But the ideal would be to stop kissing and shaking hands, which suits this emergency doctor, is not always obvious during an election period … “
Another reflex to acquire: avoid touching your face, because “Contamination can be through the mouth or nose but also through the eyes, via the lacrimal duct”, explained Pierre Parneix on Tuesday to The cross. However, the surgical mask is not “Not recommended for the general public”, according to this doctor of public health and hospital hygiene at the Bordeaux University Hospital.
“The only indications concern sick people and those who return from active circulation areas of the virus. “ It will then be necessary to take care to wear it correctly: “The small padded nasal bar is to be put on the nose, then we put the elastics behind the ears and we slide the mask on the chin to cover the nose and the mouth”, details the doctor. Finally, it is essential to cough and sneeze into your elbow.
Gestures all the more essential than“There are forms of the virus with very few symptoms or no symptoms at all, remember Anne-Claude Crémieux, professor of infectious diseases at Saint-Louis Hospital, in Paris. A person can therefore be infected and contagious without knowing it. ” Besides the incubation period of the virus could be much longer than envisaged: if the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates it at 14 days, Chinese scientists believe that the interval between contamination and first symptoms could be up to 27 days.
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