Numerous clusters have appeared in hospitals in recent weeks, causing additional stress for caregivers already exhausted by an incredibly long crisis.
Faced with this deterioration of their working conditions and a vaccine response not up to par, according to them, many questions remain.
REPORTAGE
Dieppe, Brest, Arras, Hénin-Beaumont, Périgueux, La Rochelle, Paris… All these French cities have one thing in common: they currently have large clusters within hospitals.
An unprecedented situation, which did not occur during the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic, a few months ago.
But in recent weeks, the number of outbreaks of contamination has indeed increased in hospitals, which worries and irritates professionals in the sector whom Europe 1 has encountered.
>> LIVE -
Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Thursday February 11
"I have already imagined myself in a bed with a tube, in the place of a patient or seeing one of my relatives in a coma, intubated. There are times when the anxieties resume", confides Magali, nursing assistant. within the Ambroise-Paré hospital in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Like her, many are thinking about the virus, even if they do not prefer to dwell too much on the question.
Contaminations "very difficult to define"
In her office, Geneviève Boyer, an intensive care unit, constantly adjusts the schedules to replace caregivers positive for the coronavirus.
"They come back to us regularly, telling us 'you have found for tomorrow? For the day after tomorrow?'. This worries them a lot, with fatigue," she mentions about these replacements, a source of additional stress for them. teams.
"
Did they get infected in the hospital or in the private sphere?
"
One less caregiver necessarily represents more work for others.
Contamination is increasing, but explanations are lacking.
"Did they get infected in the hospital? During the obligatory periods of relaxation, breaks, lunches? Are they contaminated in the private sphere? It is something very difficult to define", s 'asks Antoine Vieillard-Baron, head of the intensive care unit.
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> The English variant would cause slightly different symptoms
> Not recommended for people over 65, who will be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine?
> Audio, webcams ... When technology adapts to teleworking
> Containment is good for the planet
> How will the vaccination passport work in Denmark?
A year after the onset of the crisis, fatigue can be seen on everyone's faces.
And the fear of disease, a virus that spares no one, is never far away.
Last week, in this service, a nurse was hospitalized in intensive care, in serious condition.
A "second zone" vaccine
In this context, the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) last week recommended administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to healthcare professionals under 65 and to people under 65, starting with people aged 50 to 64 years old and who present with comorbidities.
Except that in hospitals, this decision does not pass.
Caregivers do not understand why they are going to receive what they call a "second-line" vaccine.
"We are sent to the front without the appropriate equipment", criticizes Thierry Amouroux, spokesperson for the National Union of Nursing Professionals.
"We find ourselves in the same state of mind as in the first wave, when we lacked masks and gloves, with trash bags on the back. There, it's the same. We will end up with a vaccine that , a priori, does not protect against the South African and Brazilian variants, as well as the second English variant which is developing.There is therefore an endangerment of patients by not giving the best vaccine to caregivers to block transmission to vulnerable people. "