INTERVIEW
While the health crisis linked to the coronavirus continues to spread in France, Emmanuel Macron will speak on Monday evening to announce, no doubt, more drastic measures. In France, the situation is particularly critical in the Grand Est. Hospitals, emergency care, infirmaries ... the establishments are saturated and there is a severe shortage of staff and equipment, explains the president of the Regional Council, Jean Rottner, contacted by Europe 1.
"Physical exhaustion" of caregivers
Reacting to the words of the Head of State, who declared that France was only at the beginning of the epidemic, Jean Rottner is categorical. "We are already in an epidemic since France is largely affected, and particularly in Alsace, with a home that has largely focused all of our attention in Mulhouse since a meeting in an evangelical church," he said. In fact, since this event, the region has been faced with a very high density virus spread, with a particularly strong virus penetration rate, he adds.
"Today, the situation is extremely tense and critical in terms of resuscitation beds and in terms of respirators, with teams exhausted because they are facing patients who are constantly increasing in number," says Jean Rottner, evoking the "physical exhaustion" of these health personnel who are faced with therapeutic decisions, fear for their loved ones and for themselves.
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Many young people in intensive care
"We are starting to make inter-regional transfers," also explains the regional president, who recalls that hospitals, which have transformed continuing care into resuscitation care, have an imperative need for respirators. "We have a lot of young patients, intubated, in extremely long-term intensive care, and we have to adapt," he adds.
"Not to respect the rules, it is not to be clever, it is to fool"
For the president of the Grand Est Regional Council, the French do not take the measure of the epidemic. "What I want to say, to young people in particular, is that not to respect the rules is not to be clever, it is to be stupid," he says. "You put your life and that of others at risk, and you have to be genuinely aware of it."
"France must realize that each time that a preventive gesture is not respected, it is an additional potential burden that is placed on the hospital system," he insists. "Because behind it, there are real risks: it is not a question of being alarmist, it is a question of being responsible and a citizen."
LIVE - Coronavirus: Emmanuel Macron will speak this evening at 8 p.m.