- Many companies have had to limit or cease production due to containment related to the coronavirus epidemic. Among them, some have decided to redirect their activity to provide assistance.
- A Decathlon product is notably processed for medical purposes. Others provide accommodation or spaces.
- Shopping centers are also used to accommodate women victims of violence.
The coronavirus crisis is hitting businesses hard. Falling activity, partial unemployment and closings hamper their functioning.
But while some have reoriented their production towards the making of a mask or hydroalcoholic gel, others are participating in the fight against the epidemic by other means.
The direct fight against the epidemic
Masks, the Decathlon group is not lacking. These are not surgical masks or FFP2, but snorkeling masks (observation of the seabed). Some hospitals are now using them to protect patients infected with Covid-19. In Italy, in Brescia, Doctor Renato Favero, with the help of a local engineering company, succeeded in transforming the Easybreath of Decathlon into an emergency ventilation mask. In a press release, the Italian company confirmed that Decathlon provided it with the 3D plans of this diving mask, so that it could "create a 3D component to guarantee the connection to the ventilator".
The idea, taken up in particular in Belgium or in Germany, pushed the French company to announce on Twitter, Monday, March 30, "block the sale of [its] masks on decathlon.fr in order to reserve all the available stock to give it to the nursing staff ”.
Another useful object is the plastic visor, which protects caregivers and other exposed professions. Manufactured by 3D printer, it is used over FFP2 masks and has already been validated by several CHUs, notably that of Caen. Several French companies have decided to produce them. This is the case of Duval design, in Redon (Ille-et-Vilaine), a company specializing in the production of advertising packaging. Or Paris Saclay Hardware Accelerator, an accelerator of industrial projects.
Like these visors, all available medical equipment must be distributed to hospitals and health professionals. For this, the French company Mirakl has created a platform in partnership with the General Directorate of Enterprises of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. On the principle of the marketplace , the site centralizes supply and demand on essential products and ensures secure exchange. "This online platform makes it possible to streamline exchanges between manufacturers, distributors and subcontractors, and to make these protective products available to healthcare professionals and public institutions," explains Mirakl.
Viparis, the European leader in hosting conferences and fairs, does not have equipment. On the other hand, the subsidiary of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry and of the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield group has infrastructures which have not been used since the start of confinement and the cancellation of events. Viparis has made its Porte de Versailles exhibition center available to host a Covid-19 screening center. Cerballiance laboratories were able to invest the premises with a mobile sampling center. Pablo Nakhlé, Managing Director of Viparis, announced “to make its sites available to health authorities in solidarity with healthcare establishments in Paris-Ile-de-France. Please note: these samples are reserved for caregivers and frail people with symptoms, and only by appointment.
VIDEO: A Brussels hospital developed an emergency ventilator made from a Decathlon snorkelling mask to help mitigate any equipment shortages during the #coronavirus pandemic pic.twitter.com/YN5HoWEiTO
- AFP news agency (@AFP) March 28, 2020Mobilization for caregivers
Applauded every night at the windows by their fellow citizens, the nursing staff have suffered (even more than before) since the beginning of the epidemic. In order to help them, many companies have decided to make a move.
Olivier Lefrançois, owner of Profish, a wholesaler specializing in seafood in Colombelles (Calvados), has brought together other wholesalers and around fifteen restaurateurs to provide meal trays for carers of nursing homes in the Caen region. He confided to Ouest-France : "The idea is that everyone brings fish, vegetables, bread ... I take care of delivering to the cooks. […] Then I collect [the meals], I put in place and I deliver [to the caregivers]. Like them, many restaurateurs are following the initiative, such as the Château de Courban, in Côtes d'Or, or La Maison Lenôtre, which delivers meal trays for carers in Parisian hospitals of the AP-HP.
Caregivers can also find support to get to their place of work. Those who have to take their car can get closer to Total, which announced on March 23 that it will make petrol vouchers available to hospital carers, which can be used in the group's stations. The total amount of this aid could amount to 50 million euros, according to the group. Those who do not have a vehicle in town can rely on the Free2Move electric cars and CityScoot electric scooters free of charge. These services are mainly present in Paris, but car rental companies Ada, Ucar and Virtuo have announced that they will make vehicles available free of charge to healthcare staff in several provincial cities.
Finally, the SNCF, whose overall traffic is reduced, offers free travel for all volunteer caregivers who must strengthen hospitals during the crisis. The offer concerns all journeys on TGV, Inoui and Intercités services.
To find accommodation as close as possible to their work, they can also count on hotels, which provide rooms almost everywhere in France. At the same time, on Airbnb, around 5,000 units were offered free of charge by owners in the space of a week.
Transport and hotels always, but this time for later: the Tourist Attractiveness and Development Agency Béarn Basque Country 64 has decided to offer 200 holiday vouchers worth 500 euros each to carers who will be able to take advantage of them after the crisis, for a well-deserved rest.
Some don't forget fragile people
Companies are therefore mobilizing for hospitals and nursing staff, but do not forget the fragile. For patients and residents of nursing homes, the Boulanger France group, via its foundation, has committed to offer 10,000 digital tablets to French hospitals to enable hospital patients and people isolated in nursing homes to maintain a link with their families and their loved ones confined.
The most fragile people who remain confined take risks by going shopping. To avoid this, many large retailers offer home delivery services. But smaller companies have also chosen to lend a hand, as reported by Ouest-France in its March 29 edition. In Saint-Crespin-sur-Moine (Maine-et-Loire), the Crespinoise Ambulances thus propose to deliver the races with all the precautions in force.
Among the fragile, there are also women victims of violence, who are particularly at risk during this period of confinement. The Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield group has announced that it will provide premises "allowing confidentiality" in its shopping centers and which are "large enough to accommodate women while respecting barrier measures", said Marlène Schiappa, Secretary of State for equality between women and men.
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