Pantin (AFP)

Wearing a mask and then removing it, Emmanuel Macron returned Tuesday to contact caregivers, who assured him of their mobilization to fight against the coronavirus while regretting the persistent lack of certain equipment.

Remained discreet in recent days, the Head of State left the Élysée for a seventh trip since he devoted himself, like the whole of the government, to managing the health crisis.

He could address himself again in the coming days to the French, who have been confined for three weeks.

Emmanuel Macron began his visit to Seine Saint-Denis by thanking the residents who "respect confinement in a remarkable way" in "a department where there is a lot of poverty" and who is one of the most affected by the pandemic.

But, an hour later, at the exit of the Multidisciplinary Health Center in Pantin, he must urge, by joining hands, the inhabitants who had gathered to see and challenge him, to "respect the rules" and so to "go home".

In the street, Emmanuel Macron no longer has the surgical mask he had fixed on his face when entering the nursing home, like all the people who work there or are welcomed there.

In cramped premises where the distance of a meter is impossible, the discussion begins on the development of teleconsultations, which now represent "80% of consultations", explains doctor Yohan Saynac.

- "Makeshift solutions" -

But, as during each of his trips, the president is caught up by the lack of protective equipment (masks, overcoats, charlottes ...) which caregivers suffer, forced to invent "makeshift solutions", according to the doctor .

A caregiver nods. "I don't have enough," she testified, explaining that she had to wash her two disposable blouses recovered from her former work in the evening to take them in turns.

"We should be able to relieve you," replied Emmanuel Macron, saluting their "wonderful" work. Before reassuring once again that the scale of the problem was difficult to predict. "Even the best-thought-out plans did not contemplate that China and the other countries would be affected at the same time," he said. "What we thought was worthless six months or a year ago, which we thought was the most stupid thing to do, all of a sudden" has become rare, he adds, referring to the masks and other equipment protection.

An hour later, Emmanuel Macron, still surrounded by fifteen people, is again arrested on this issue in La Courneuve, the second stage of his trip, where he talks with social workers and elected officials on the support given to people elderly and vulnerable.

"It's the resource" to get masks, testifies the mayor Gilles Poux (PCF), explaining having to rely on "the endowments of private companies".

The Ile-de-France region announced Tuesday that it will distribute 300,000 protective masks to caregivers, businesses and humanitarian associations in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department of 1.6 million inhabitants where deaths have jumped 63% between March 21 and March 27.

Also challenged on the tests, Emmanuel Macron stresses that, to launch them, it is first necessary to "stabilize" them at the scientific level. And he evokes the first results carried out in the Oise, which would show that 15% to 20% of the population is now immune, according to the Elysée.

During his discussions, the Head of State also insisted on the importance of "not forgetting other diseases" outside of the Covid-19. "It is very important, during this period, to continue to see the doctor, the nurse, when you have a chronic illness," he underlines.

In addition, the mayor of La Courneuve calls on the government to take measures to help the disadvantaged because his city, where 43% of the population lives below the poverty line, "is paying a high price" for this crisis. He also warns of the risk of accentuating the dropout rate, because "if the school does not resume at all" this year, "it will be terrible". Emmanuel Macron mentions the possibility of instituting a remedial school session during the first 15 days of July for certain territories.

© 2020 AFP