Deconfinement in France: quarantine in a hotel

Text by: RFI Follow

The quarantine of people tested positive for Covid-19 in places requisitioned by the state, such as hotels, is one of the tracks envisaged by the government for deconfinement. This device has been a reality for a month now in Perpignan, in the south of France. 

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With our special correspondent in Perpignan, Anthony Lattier

"  This is not a prison,  " we assure the newcomer right away. Patients placed in quarantine in this hotel requisitioned by the prefecture of the Pyrenees-Orientales can go out on the balcony and on the two car parks which adjoin the building.

The bedroom is made up of two beds, a small bathroom and a television. Laurent, 47, will be able to go out tomorrow. Two weeks that he is there, watching TV, walking and exchanging by videoconference with his loved ones. "  We just take care  ," he sums up.

These patients are followed daily by a doctor and nurses. They do not have severe symptoms, but remain contagious and cannot be confined to their home. The device not only made it possible to free up beds in the hospital, but for Nicolas Montserrat, president of the French Federation for Rescue and First Aid in the Pyrénées-Orientales, it also made it possible to avoid further contamination. "  If the 44 people received here to date had returned to their homes, they would have almost certainly infected their loved ones  ," he explains.

The 35 rooms received up to 22 patients at the same time. There are only seven now, but the prefect Philippe Chopin remains cautious: "  If there is a new influx of patients, I do not rule out requisitioning other hotels on the territory  ." And the prefect ensures it: at 35 euros per room per day, plus meals, this device costs the State less than a hospital bed.

Listen to the report: a hotel requisitioned for infectious patients

Anthony Lattier

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