Carers overwhelmed and sometimes contaminated, insufficient protection, incomplete screening ... and dozens dead. In the midst of a deadly coronavirus epidemic, the situation is rapidly deteriorating in hospitals for dependent elderly people (Ehpad). As explained on Europe 1 the president of the Association of emergency physicians of France, Patrick Pelloux, these deaths are "the consequence" of the confinement chosen for these establishments.
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On Tuesday afternoon, Le Parisien revealed the deaths of sixteen residents of the Rothschild Foundation Ehpad in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. Most of the victims were over the age of 90 and suffered from extremely serious illnesses, the newspaper said, while management spoke of "an extremely difficult situation". In Saint-Dizier, in Haute-Marne, thirteen residents died, most of the coronavirus.
"Right in the wave"
"The virus is dangerous and we are in the middle of the wave," says Patrick Pelloux. Monday was the news of 20 dead in a nursing home in Cornimont, in the Vosges, that alerted public opinion to the dramatic situation experienced by the elderly. "We must salute the work of the management of these nursing homes and the staff who work there because it is not easy," insists the emergency physician.
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But what is the cause of these many deaths, while the elderly in nursing homes are often protected from the rest of the population, and therefore in theory from the spread of the virus? According to Patrick Pelloux, this is explained "because we chose a policy of confinement of the elderly in nursing homes, to treat them and not that they are contaminated and contaminating in the hospital. The problem is that it has consequences. "
However, the questions remain: "We don't know why it happened there, I hope it didn't come from Mulhouse", wonders the brother of a victim of the Ehim de Cornimont, in the Vosges, while one of the first French clusters was located in the neighboring Haut-Rhin. "It may be, it must have been there long enough."
Two problems in Ehpad
Faced with the epidemic, two problems arise for nursing homes: first, the fact that tests are not systematic in these establishments. In the Vosges nursing home, out of the 20 people who died, only four had tested positive. But the problem also comes from the risks imported by the carers: at the Rothschild Foundation nursing home, four staff were diagnosed with Covid-19. "The staff are the first affected", deplores Patrick Pelloux. "Doctors are on the front line, the virus passes and infects caregivers."
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For the time being, and in order to avoid a national slaughter in the nursing homes, the regional health agencies are trying to have a precise idea of the situation, by collecting data from the various establishments present on their territory. .