Paris (AFP)

France applauds them every night in the windows, but the next day, they discover an anonymous letter suggesting they move, or their car forced to steal masks: in the midst of a coronavirus epidemic, some caregivers take "a blow to morale".

On Wednesday, consternation invaded Lucille, who does not wish to give her full name, like other caregivers contacted by AFP. In his mailbox, a courier asks him to leave his accommodation in Vulaines-sur-Seine, in the Paris region. Unsigned, the letter also suggests that he do his shopping "outside the city" and accuses him of walking his dog: probably a neighbor, therefore.

"I'm angry," said AFP, a nurse from a Parisian suburban hospital. "We already put our lives aside to take care of others, while we are treated like plague victims, it does not work."

The 30-year-old, who wears a mask, gloves, glasses and protective gown at work and has "saggy hands" by the double washing - soap, then hydroalcoholic gel - imposed between each patient, enraging the stupidity of this crow. "This person surely takes far fewer precautions than I do."

Determined not to be intimidated, she sent the letter to the mayor, who seized the prosecutor. An investigation is underway. Now, "I'm trying to get past it, but it's easier said than done," sighs Lucille, who has taken "a blow to morale".

Several similar situations have sparked outrage on social networks in recent days. Enough for Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to denounce on Saturday these "scandalous words" left to caregivers.

In the North, Thomas Demonchaux, for his part, feels "distrust from the neighborhood", under the veneer of "innocuous questions". "They ask me if I am in contact with confirmed or suspect covid-19 patients. If I am tired," said the nurse.

- "Feeling of unreality" -

"People move away when they meet me, they are no longer one meter from me, but four meters," says Negete Bensaïd, liberal nurse in Paris. The forty-something woman has relatives who ask her to stop working and some patients who refuse visits. "I'm not going to hide, I have sick people to treat," she breathes.

In addition to suspicion, caregivers at home, who move with masks and hydroalcoholic gel, must also digest the fact of having become targets.

In La Rochelle (west), Claire's office was robbed last week: the thirty surgical masks she had just received have disappeared. "I had a lot of anger, a lot of fear too, a feeling of unreality," said the liberal nurse.

Since then, it has "subsided". But "removing the caduceus" (a paper behind the windshield) which betrays his profession "and leaving nothing in the car, it has become a routine, just like putting on the mask and washing your hands to protect patients. "

Sophie did not "believe it" either, when her Smart was forced Monday in Marseille (south). Put away with his papers, his caduceus had disappeared, as well as two pockets containing masks and equipment. "We will end up being assaulted," fears this 42-year-old liberal nurse, whose certain patients "become obnoxious".

One waits for her hand disinfectant, another wants her to do the shopping for her children, for fear of possible contamination in the supermarket. "I don't have the impression of being respected. So I don't even go out at night to listen to the applause at 8:00 pm," she said.

"I worked in prison for three years, but I had never known that: to go to work the ball in the belly while being afraid for its safety", confides Laure in Toulouse. The liberal nurse was insulted by a passerby who demanded masks.

"Even if these events remain in the minority, it's astounding," laments Patrick Chamboredon, the president of the National Order of Nurses, which brings together the 700,000 members of the profession in France.

Some regional councils of the Order recommend carers to remove their caduceus to avoid theft. And in the face of mistrust, "tests must be developed for caregivers, to reassure the population, it is a real emergency", according to Mr. Chamboredon.

© 2020 AFP