The number of deaths in an Ehpad in Mougins, near Cannes, has further increased and reached 29 deaths related to the coronavirus, said the mayor on Friday by issuing an "ultimatum" so that residents and staff are all detected without delay.
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"It's something apocalyptic, a massacre"
"Day by day, the number of people affected has increased as well as the number of deaths, now we are at 29. It is something apocalyptic, it is a massacre," said Dr. Richard Galy, general practitioner and mayor of this city on the Côte d'Azur since 2001. "Following today's crisis meeting from which no concrete decision emerged, I can no longer trust either Korian (owner of this establishment for dependent elderly people) or to the ARS (Regional Health Agency) in the management of this tragic situation where every minute counts ", he added in a press release entitled" mayor's thunderbolt ".
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All staff must be tested, and work carried out ...
"It's been almost two weeks since I asked to test everyone (...) It is April 3 and today it seems that half of the staff is tested but the residents still do not", he continued adding, "It's an ultimatum: by Monday morning, all the staff and all the residents must be tested, and work done to seal the healthy block from the sick block."
"If this is not possible, I will request the requisition of the hotel to save the people who are currently in good health because in my opinion, they have no chance of escaping by staying in the 'establishment is dramatic,' he protested. A spokesperson for the establishment, contacted by AFP, confirmed "having communicated 29 deaths to the ARS" and "started screening caregivers this Friday before screening residents scheduled for Monday". "The establishment must be organized into two separate and watertight sectors," he said.
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... otherwise, the mayor wants to requisition a hotel
During a new crisis meeting on Friday, Doctor Galy has already proposed that non-sick residents be relocated to a hotel requisitioned under the supervision of a small medical team, but he was refused, because of standards invoked during the discussion associating the ARS, the sub-prefecture of Grasse and the Korian group. "What standards are we talking about when it comes to saving lives? The only absolute standard is to rescue residents as quickly as possible," he said in his statement.
Mayor LR also demanded "that the Korian establishment ensure the communication it owes to families left to their own devices and who interrogate me every day because there is no news from their relatives". Nothing prevents families from picking up their relatives or relatives, subject to certain health precautions, he said.