Paris (AFP)

Practitioner in a hospital in the Paris region, on the front line to treat the wave of patients affected by the coronavirus, an anesthesiologist-resuscitator delivers daily for AFP, on condition of anonymity, the summary of his day in full crisis sanitary.

- Wednesday April 29 -

Life gradually resumes its normal course in the hospital. We will have another fifteen or so additional beds open until the end of May, when the second wave should come up, if that happens.

The surgeons are gradually resuming their consultation and operating activities, the doctors are starting to leave the Covid hospitalization units without resuscitation, the medical and paramedical teams who have come to help us for recumbent positioning, patient transport or for ensuring links with families are gradually leaving intensive care.

Provincial colleagues can go home. Things calm down. Will the rest be more difficult? Probably. It depends on the occurrence or not of this famous second wave, its intensity, its lot of surprises with which it will arrive.

At this point, it is likely that the general enthusiasm that we have known in recent weeks to come to help us will be less glaring, that we will already start to enroll in a certain Covid routine, and that we will be much more alone for do the job.

If confinement has not been reimposed, it is likely that those who can do so will prefer to go on vacation, rest, or simply continue their usual professional activity.

I may be pessimistic but I think that this second wave will have a highly more painful character for us. Tiredness, isolation, exhaustion.

The interprofessional mutual aid that we have known for two months was certainly very beautiful and helped us enormously in every way. Unfortunately, I am sure it has its limits. Let people get tired. And that relapse will be difficult.

We will have to relearn how to work behind the scenes. I have no problem with that. I was quite uncomfortable with this image of hero with which we were associated for two months.

But that risks playing on the morale of the troops. We will find a normal position in working conditions that are still as unreal for us.

© 2020 AFP