The coronavirus epidemic also affects French prisons, and worries prison staff. As of Friday, 21 inmates were tested positive for coronavirus, as were some 50 staff members. While the situation had pushed FO-Pénitentiaire to seize the Conseil d'Etat for interim measures to demand more means of protection, the union announced on Saturday that all staff would now be equipped with masks. If this development is a first victory, Christophe Schmitt, FO regional secretary for the Grand Est, calls to go even further. According to him, "we must insure this equipment until the end of the crisis".
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"We have received a few thousand masks which are by far not in sufficient number", he regrets at the microphone of Europe 1, "it is unfortunately a small stock". According to Christophe Schmitt, "we do not hope for a few days of respite, but that there are many things implemented to be able to ensure this equipment until the end of the crisis. The objective is there".
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"We remain vigilant on the evolution of the file"
"From the moment the virus enters an environment that is confined, with a dense human population, the risk of spread is multiplied," continues the unionist. "Obviously, we remain very vigilant and very attentive to the development of the file, so that we do not find ourselves in a week or ten days in the situation in which we were since the beginning of this crisis". And to conclude: It would be really do-it-yourself which would have been useless ".