Emmanuel Macron assured Tuesday that he did not want to "isolate our elders again", during a visit to an Ehpad in Loir-et-Cher.

The President of the Republic also called on the elderly to protect themselves more against the rebound of the epidemic, while several clusters have been detected in nursing homes. 

Emmanuel Macron assured Tuesday that he did not want to "isolate our seniors again", during a visit to a nursing home in Loir-et-Cher, to call on the elderly to protect themselves more against the rebound of the epidemic, and then that many large cities restrict visits.

"We do not wish, collectively, to isolate our elders again. (...) We are going to support the heads of establishments so that rules are enacted which precisely allow a proportionate reaction and (...) to continue to see the family, those we love, and continue to have (...) a minimum of activity, to continue to have interactions because that is also life ", declared the president at the end of his visit.

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"They are not in Ehpad because they are sick!"

Director Pierre Goualbault and the nurses told him about their exceptional mobilization during the crisis.

A nurse told him of the feeling of isolation caused by the epidemic.

"They are not in nursing homes because they are sick! They are alive. When we celebrate our birthday, when we go to the creperie, when we travel, we are alive (...) but the Covid has stopped everything, people were locked up, ”said a nurse.

"Today families are relaxed, for the masks I wage a bit of war, but when it's been six months since we last saw your mother ...! It's life, it's love" , she cried.

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Several clusters detected in nursing homes 

This shift comes as the indicators of the epidemic are on the rise, especially for those over 65.

The Minister of Health Olivier Véran last Thursday called on the elderly to "redouble all (their) efforts. Including the most difficult one, to further reduce the number of people you see every day".

Other voices are raised to ask not to "infantilize" the elderly, in particular when, at the end of August, Prime Minister Jean Castex asked to avoid "that grandpa and grandma go to pick up the children from school".

Several clusters have recently been detected in nursing homes, such as that of 54 positive cases in one of the largest in France, in Bourges.