Generalized confinement measures are not topical "neither in nursing homes nor outside", underlined Friday in Lozère the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, evoking ad hoc measures of isolation "to save the life" of the elderly, particularly affected by the new coronavirus.

"Today there is no need to take generalized containment measures across the country, whether in nursing homes (accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people) or outside", said the minister of Health Olivier Véran during a press briefing, after having visited the hospital of Florac in Lozère. He simply referred to ad hoc isolation measures "to save the lives" of the elderly, particularly affected by the Covid-19.

Véran does not regret the three months of strict confinement

"As a minister, I remain extremely concerned with vulnerable and fragile people and whenever a decision is necessary and proportionate to save life, I will take it", he added. Regarding the very strict confinement of more than three months in retirement homes, very badly experienced by families and residents, Olivier Véran assured: "It is a measure that I do not regret". Visits resumed on June 22 at these establishments.

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"When you have an entry of the virus into an nursing home, it can be catastrophic. There were nine deaths in an nursing home this week because a person had returned infected and did not know it," continued the minister. "In the most fragile people, the damage can be considerable and I still prefer to choose to protect people even if it means isolating them but always accompanying them with humanity, rather than taking the risk of seeing them die by the dozen sometimes in very difficult conditions, "he said.

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"Alert message"

Olivier Véran explained that he had come to Lozère, a department "least affected" by the new coronavirus, where there was only one death, "to show that the epidemic is not inevitable". "It is important to show this at a time when, on the contrary, we can see that on a national scale the circulation of the virus is tending to accelerate," he said.

"It is a virus with double trigger since it is today the young people who are the most affected but the not so young who are the most affected by the coronavirus", recalled the minister, launching "a message of alert" to a few days of vacation returns.

"People are going to resume their lives, send children back to school and that's very good, go back to face-to-face work and that's great ... But we have to be careful to protect the most vulnerable people . The virus must not be able to pass from the youngest to the oldest, "he said.