- Emmanuel Macron spoke Monday evening of "tensions" but not of "rupture" on the supply of masks.
- The President of the Republic did not specify which types of mask he was referring to.
- Caregivers' unions, however, have repeatedly warned of the lack of equipment, and the government has acknowledged difficulties.
He recognized "gaps" and "tensions" but not "rupture". Emmanuel Macron returned to the difficulties of supplying masks to fight against the coronavirus epidemic in a report published on Monday on BFMTV. "There has been a restrictive doctrine to never be out of whack that the government has taken and which I think was the right one," explained the President of the Republic. Then there was an increased supply and an increased production and we were never out of stock. What is true is that there have been gaps, that there have been tensions, that is what will have to be looked at to correct it. "
The head of state then argued that "at the beginning of March, even more so in February or January, nobody was talking about the masks because we never thought we would have to restrict the distribution of these this for caregivers. "
The statement jumped into the ranks of the opposition and some caregiver unions. Doctors of the World also joked about presidential communication.
Mr. @EmmanuelMacron, when you talk about tensions on #masks, is it the language of the new world to say "outdated for more than 10 years"? pic.twitter.com/QORoFM2f4L
- Doctors of the World (@MdM_France) May 19, 2020FAKE OFF
Contacted by 20 Minutes , the Elysée did not specify what types of masks evoked the president in this interview. He resumed on Monday elements of language which had already been used by Sibeth Ndiaye in March. On the 4th, she had argued that there was "no risk of shortage" for surgical masks, while Emmanuel Macron had announced the day before a requisition of stocks in the country. A few days later, she recognized "logistical difficulties".
Statements denied on several occasions by the unions of health professionals. On March 7, while dentists' offices were still open, Patrick Solera, president of the Federation of Liberal Dental Unions, first explained to AFP that the FFP2 masks could not be found. He also expressed his concern about the supply of surgical masks: "While in our business, we have to manage daily spattering of blood and saliva, our suppliers wrote to us yesterday [March 6] that they could not more supply us with surgical masks by the end of May because everything has been requisitioned ”.
Nurses and liberal doctors also sounded the alarm siren. At the time, the government recommended the use of FFP2 masks only in hospitals.
March 24, new alert, this time from a dozen unions of general practitioners and hospital federations. They then denounced "the slowness of the supply of masks and the insufficient quantity of protective equipment for professionals".
Three weeks later, on April 7, "the gaps persist," says the National Union of Nursing Professionals to AFP. The Union conducted an online survey, which received 31,047 responses between March 31 and April 4. More than half of the respondents (53%) “noticed a lack” of surgical models and more than three-quarters (81%) of FFP2 models.
Masks "took a long time to reach the field"
Meanwhile, Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, acknowledged that the masks "took a long time to arrive on the ground". On March 20, he recognized a lack of preparation in the Senate: "We were a country unfortunately not prepared from the point of view of masks and protective equipment, due to a decision taken nine years ago. If we had had a billion surgical masks and 600 million FFP2 masks as was the case in 2010, no one would talk about the masks. "
The same day, Sibeth Ndiaye explains that France had "at the beginning of this crisis, in 2019", 140 million surgical masks, of which, she specifies, "a part not usable because intended for children". Before adding: “We did not have FFP2 masks in stock. "
Faced with these difficulties, the government has also evolved in its strategy of supply and distribution of surgical masks and FFP2. Initially, FFP2s are reserved for hospital staff only, before being made more widely available to healthcare professionals.
Caregivers seize the Council of State
In mid-March, when the anger of health professionals still booms at the lack of equipment, the executive announced that doctors and nurses could go and get a rationed number of masks in pharmacies. But the number of equipment distributed is insufficient, denounce medical unions. On March 26, a group of caregivers decided to seize the Council of State.
A month later, the Union of Hospital Anesthetists and Intensive Care Practitioners said that 20% of the practitioners surveyed by the union still said they lacked FFP2 masks. With a view to deconfinement, while dentists warn of the lack of protection for the reopening of their office, Olivier Véran announces on May 7 that 100 million masks will be distributed from May 11 to caregivers, patients and frail people.
The government has also encouraged, with a view to deconfinement, the production of washable cloth masks for the general public, another way of relieving pressure on stocks of protective masks.
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