Covid-19 in France: "We took quite a bit of old age", testifies an exhausted nurse
Strong physical and psychological fatigue related to the care of Covid patients strikes caregivers.
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4 min
In France, what is the state of mind of caregivers as the Covid tide rises?
During the health crisis, 31,000 caregivers tested positive for the coronavirus in a sample of 1,000 establishments.
Thierry Amouroux, nurse, is one of them.
With a little hindsight he expresses what he feels and talks about his concerns.
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His job is a nurse, Thierry Amouroux is also spokesperson for the national nurses union and as such is receptive to the concerns of his colleagues.
He rubs his beard and shows the appearance of white hairs.
Like many caregivers, he contracted the coronavirus.
“
We took a hell of a time for all those who were affected.
It's very difficult to go back,
”he says.
Strong physical and psychological fatigue, of course linked to the care of Covid patients.
Unheard of according to Thierry Amouroux: “
I graduated in 1984, so I have seen a lot of things.
I saw the beginnings of AIDS.
The biggest crisis I have had to face is really this year.
It was the most terrible in terms of the scale, the therapeutic choices and the anguish for our loved ones.
"
If according to the nurse the lack of personnel is crying in the hospitals, the shortage of equipment is still to be deplored.
"
We have always been in tension since June on FFP2 masks, on medical gloves, on gowns while there are very few cases and our concern is if there is a second peak, in a few days we will find ourselves again with garbage bags on our backs because we will quickly run out of material.
"
The caregivers say it, the
consumption of material
is multiplied by ten during an epidemic peak.
Can the public hospital overcome a second Covid wave?
Nothing is less certain, in the opinion of practitioners, given the lack of personnel.
The number of new hospitalizations during the last seven days amounted to 3,894, against 3,853 on Saturday, and the number of intensive care admissions to 593, a figure identical to that of the day before.
France recorded twelve new deaths in 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 31,585 since the start of the epidemic in March.
► Read also: Covid-19: all indicators are red in France
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