Masked caregivers in front of a Marseille hospital -

CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP

  • The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care is gradually increasing in Marseille, to the point that places in hospitals are becoming scarce.

  • Caregivers are worried, without being alarmist.

  • The director of the AP-HM calls on the people of Marseille to respect barrier gestures so that the situation does not escalate.

What is happening in Marseille hospitals?

While the second largest city in France and its department have been in the throes of a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases since this summer, several hospital officials sounded the alarm this weekend.

“Major tension for 24 hours on the intensive care beds in the Bouches-du-Rhône, tweets this Sunday Professor Dominique Rossi, president of the medical commission of establishment of the Public Assistance Hospitals of Marseille (AP-HM).

Preserve our hospital capacities by applying barrier measures.

Help !!

We need you to contain the tide.

"

"Our three departments are almost full"

In total, 300 intensive care beds are open in the Bouches-du-Rhône.

Seventy resuscitation places are dedicated to Covid-19 patients in the department.

And in Marseille, these beds are gradually filling up.

"Our three services are almost full," says one on the side of Professor Raoult's IHU.

We have about 70 hospitalized patients for 75 places.

"

As for the AP-HM, according to Jean-Olivier Arnaud, chairman of the management board, we have a total of 124 beds dedicated to Covid-19, including 27 in intensive care.

“And as we speak, we have five vacant intensive care beds,” explains Jean-Olivier Arnaud.

With that, we have visibility for three days.

It does not seem alarming to us.

It's hot, but it's not panic.

"

Increase in emergency room visits

A capacity that may seem very reduced in the second largest city in France given the health situation in recent weeks.

But, unlike last spring when several services were shut down to focus efforts on the coronavirus epidemic, this summer, the AP-HM must continue to treat all of its patients, in all its services.

Thus, the reception capacity dedicated to Covid-19 has not yet been increased.

“Since there were a lot of people in Marseille this summer, for example, there was a 30% increase in attendance at our trauma service in August 2020, compared to last year at the same period, we tell the AP-HM.

For example, we have jumps in the creeks, and these are patients who are still in intensive care today.

We have also seen an influx to emergencies.

Hospitals may not be full of Covid, but they are not empty of patients!

"

"How are we going to be able to manage the Covid with the usual activity?

"

And to add: “Considering as the number of cases increases, we are going to reach the maximum of our capacity.

The only way to cope would be to deprogram interventions, as in March.

But operations that were unscheduled because they were not urgent in March are starting to become urgent today!

By deprogramming everything, we can endanger the health of the Marseillais!

"

"We are not yet at the peak," notes Audrey Jolibois, FO general secretary at the AP-HM.

But I think the worry will come in ten to fifteen days.

How will we be able to manage the Covid with the usual activity?

Here is the big question.

"

"For the moment, we are making sure not to have to deprogram operations, even if we take it into account in our forecasts," explains Jean-Olivier Arnaud.

But the best thing would be for everyone to wear the mask!

"" We can not tell people to slow down on strokes, laughs Dominique Rossi.

On the other hand, if the Marseillais protect themselves and wear the mask, they also protect others and we can reduce the number of Covid entries!

"

According to the latest figures communicated by the authorities, the incidence rate of Covid-19 in the Bouches-du-Rhône is 171 per 100,000 inhabitants, significantly higher than the national average (of 58.2).

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