- Two commissions of inquiry were created in Parliament to analyze the dysfunctions of the management of the Covid-19 crisis, one in the Senate, the other in the Assembly.
- These bodies will conduct hearings on Tuesday at the Assembly, and make visits to nursing homes in particular.
- Deputies and senators will address the shortage of mask stocks, the population screening strategy, the issue of mortality in nursing homes and that of governance.
One month after the end of confinement, the time for investigations. Parliamentarians set to begin six months of hearingsto analyze the coronavirus crisis management. This work, which will begin on June 16 for the Assembly committee, and at the end of June for that of the Senate, should make it possible to find solutions to the dysfunctions which have occurred in the country. We take stock of the main gray areas to be clarified.
What happened with the masks?
It is perhaps the biggest black spot in the management of the epidemic in France. At the start of the crisis, the executive quickly realized that France did not have enough masks in stock. "In less than three years, stocks [of surgical masks] have been divided by six", going from 714 million in May 2017 to 117 million in March 2020, says an investigation by the newspaper Le Monde. According to the daily, France even had a stock of 1.7 billion masks in the fall of 2009.
"How could we have been so disarmed?" What mechanisms led us to this drastic reduction in the number of masks, which ultimately forced us into strict confinement? ", Questions the deputy LR of Ain Damien Abad, vice-president of the commission of inquiry. "We are going to hear the ex-officials of the General Directorate of Health, and the former ministers to understand what happened on the management of stocks," adds Boris Vallaud, PS deputy for Landes. "Why have executive messages varied so much?" We can also compare our choices with those of other countries in Europe ”. To overcome the lack of masks, it was necessary to buy them, mainly abroad. However "there was a complete seizure of the administrative apparatus and that led to a confusion on the orders", observes the senator UDI of the Orne Nathalie Goulet.
Masks are not the only material that France lacked. “There have been tensions over anesthetics, respirators, and certain drugs. Yet there have been many reports on the problem of health sovereignty, but that was a dirty word, ”regrets Nathalie Goulet.
Was the screening strategy the right one?
From mid-March, the opposition asked the government why the French are not more massively tested, as other states do. Especially since the head of the WHO strongly recommends it, on March 16: “We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test people! Five days later, however, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran defends a "rational, reasonable and reasoned use of the tests" and indicates "not to screen systematically but to base monitoring on symptom monitoring".
A government speech motivated by the lack of French capacities in this area? In an interview with the Parisian on June 3, the deputy LR and general rapporteur of the commission of inquiry Eric Ciotti denounces "the delay in the implementation of virological tests" and questions: "if we had been better prepared, the confinement would have it necessary? The president of the Scientific Council Jean-François Delfraissy partially answers him in an interview in the Journal du dimanche, pointing to the French failings. "It was not a good decision but the least bad, given the tools we had: 3,000 tests per day, when the Germans had more than 50,000. "
Why so many deaths in the Ehpad?
Were the social and medico-social establishments (including the Ehpad) ready to face the epidemic? The very high number of deaths in these establishments, 10,384 deaths or almost a third of the deaths of Covid-19, questions.
“The question of the Ehpad is a major one. We will probably go there, visits are planned in particular in Alsace, to understand what happened, "says Boris Vallaud. The management of the crisis in these retirement homes is also the subject of judicial investigations, including two in Paris, but also in Nanterre or Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes).
"The tragedy of the Ehpad will necessarily pose, for example, the question of the relevance of departmental councils and regional health agencies", also points out the deputy LREM Florent Bachelier in a forum published by Ouest France .
Coordination problems between public actors?
For the general public, the epidemic was an opportunity to discover a multitude of acronyms for as many health actors. DGS, SPF, ARS… The way in which these organizations, which distribute health missions, have managed the crisis, will be scrutinized by parliamentarians. During the fact-finding mission on the coronavirus, deputies have already targeted the French public health agency (SPF), whose missions and organization will have to be "re-examined", and the regional health agencies (ARS), "Sometimes perceived as too centralized".
Should the responsibilities and functioning of these administrations be redefined, and in particular their links with the executive? The question arises, especially after the dismissal of the director of the ARS du Grand Est, after his comments on future cuts to nursing positions and hospital beds in this region very affected by Covid-19. "We must completely review their operation in the light of this crisis," said Senator UDI Nathalie Goulet.
The Communist deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône Pierre Dharréville denounces, him, "policies of regrouping of agencies and budgetary restrictions which led these agencies to abandon or abandon some of their missions".
Will the commissions be able to answer all these questions? The opening of a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office could upset the plans of parliamentarians. "The hearings will necessarily telescope with the investigation, predicts Nathalie Goulet, and a minister or a head of administration can say that he reserves his answers to justice".
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