Covid-19: for a national tribute to the victims of the pandemic
Audio 02:34
The government has already said it is in favor of organizing a “moment” of national meditation in tribute to the victims of Covid-19, without specifying either the date or the form.
© AFP / Frédérick Florin
By: Marine de La Moissonnière Follow
6 mins
In France, families of victims of the Covid-19 pandemic are mobilizing for a national tribute.
Other countries have already done so, such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland which observed a minute of silence on March 23 and April 5 and in China, where a national day of mourning was organized on April 4.
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A year after the death of her husband who died alone in a retirement home closed to families because of confinement, José Morvan is still living in slow motion.
At home, nothing has changed.
“
I want to do a renovation in my house.
She's 25 years old, but there are things I can't get rid of.
For example, her little corner of my desk, I can't consider removing everything.
I can't because I tell myself that my conduct meant that I had already abandoned him by force of circumstances, but here I cannot destroy his universe,
”says José Morvan.
► Read also: Covid-19: the 100,000 dead mark exceeded in France
An impossible mourning
Not having been able to accompany to the end "the love of her life", as she says, the one who was her husband for nearly 57 years, this is what makes mourning impossible for José Morvan.
“
He didn't deserve to die on his terms.
It happened in a most inhumane way.
The fact that we can't be there when he dies, already.
Secondly, they were put naked in plastic covers and then all these coffins were stored
”, remembers José Morvan.
Then to add: “
So I know that all those who lose a loved one from disease, from cancer, it is painful.
But the difference is that they can follow the coffining, close the coffin ... While we, none of this has been allowed to us.
So, we really have the feeling that we have abandoned them.
I can't get over this…
”she said.
"On the day of their death, they become statistics"
Today, José Morvan's life is punctuated by his visits to the cemetery. She goes there every two days. To help her move forward, she asks, like the other members of the association Victims of Covid-19, that a national tribute day be organized. “
The President of the Republic said that we were at war. And in each war, the Nation knows how to honor its dead,
”underlines Lionel Petitpas.
Founder of the association, he himself lost his wife. “
All these people during their lifetime were still individuals
: men, women, fathers, brothers, and on the day of their death, they become statistics. I find that unacceptable. I would love a type of tribute that was done in the style of Samuel Paty. It's fairly standard, the President of the Republic can deliver a speech; Obviously, we, the association, be invited to say a few words and indeed, the Nation sits down for a few minutes and thinks about its deaths.
"
The government has already said it is in favor of organizing a "moment" of national meditation, without specifying either the date or the form.
On May 18, Lionel Petitpas and members of the association will be received in Matignon, by an employee of Jean Castex.
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