- The CHU de Bordeaux and the Sud-Ouest newspaper organized the first public information meeting on the coronavirus in France in Bordeaux, this Tuesday evening.
- Many residents participated and asked questions about the risks involved, especially when going on a trip.
- Health professionals were worried about the means available to deal with a possible epidemic.
The amphitheater of the legal and judicial pole of the University of Bordeaux is packed this Tuesday evening for the first public information meeting in France on the coronavirus.
The event organized by the CHU de Bordeaux and the Sud-Ouest newspaper drew on the expertise of Professor Denis Malvy, who heads the department of tropical, infectious and emerging diseases at the CHU de Bordeaux. His team took charge of the first patient infected with Covid 2019, the Chinese coronavirus, in France, and he was able to leave the hospital cured on February 13.
Can we travel to Cambodia? in Singapore?
When the exchange time arrives, the questions burst out. “My son is organizing his wedding on May 30 and his future wife is Cambodian, around fifty guests will come from Cambodia, should we plan cancellations? Asked a man in the audience. "Cambodia, for the moment, is not part of the epidemic zones you have to watch out for but don't cancel your guests", replies Professor Denis Malvy. The man sighs in relief in his seat. A hotel and restaurant school which welcomes foreign students wonders about the procedure to follow, for example for one of them who arrives from Milan. The director of the regional health agency (ARS) of Nouvelle-Aquitaine Michel Laforcade replies that it is preferable to observe 14 days of telework if possible, as a precaution. "And if she has symptoms, she must call 15," says Professor Denis Malvy.
Another Bordeaux resident speaks in the room and questions his planned trip to Singapore to visit his daughter. The professor is more reserved in his response: “there are active transmission chains, they are controlled, that is to say that the source patient is identified each time, but there are still a lot to consider that this country is not at risk for producing new source patients ”. If he decides to go to this country considered to be epidemic, on his return, he will have to adopt precautionary measures for fourteen days and monitor his temperature.
Are we ready to face an epidemic?
Several caregivers also spoke in the room. A nurse anesthetist is worried about the capacity of patients infected by the coronavirus at the Bordeaux University Hospital and the capacity of a staff, already on a tight schedule, to cope with a crisis. "We have 25 beds for confirmed cases and they can be multiplied by three," says Professor Denis Malvy. He adds that second-level hospitals and the ambulatory sector can also be mobilized. "We know the white plans, we are well prepared," adds Yann Bubien, director of the Bordeaux University Hospital. And we are far from being there since currently we have zero patients proven hospitalized.
A liberal nurse questioned the authorities on the caregivers' access to masks and gloves, mentioning that a patient had recently asked one of his colleagues to enter his home masked and gloved. “Our agencies will provide suitable quantities, reacts Professor Denis Malvy but in the situation you describe it is up to your patient to protect themselves. "
The specialist also took the opportunity to deliver a few messages to the population. He explained that the seasonal flu vaccine helps fight Covid 2019 because as an epidemic is underway for this winter condition, we can avoid being "possible" by presenting the symptoms (which resemble those Covid 2019).
He adds that the use of surgical masks in case of cough and regular hand washing with a hydroalcoholic solution remain the most effective means of prevention against Covid 2019. If you return from an epidemic area, you must call 15 and not go to the emergency room. In recent times, around ten potential cases have been tested daily at the Bordeaux University Hospital and each time they have turned out to be negative.
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