"We are already very, very understaffed" and now, "there will be an even greater workload, we will undoubtedly be called back even more", fears Stella Zirnheld.

With her colleagues, this pulmonology nurse from the Nouvel Hôpital Civil (NHC) in Strasbourg has been fighting "for almost two years" in the face of successive waves of Covid-19.

In the Covid unit of the service of this 39-year-old caregiver, eight patients - including five unvaccinated - are currently hospitalized.

Five more should be admitted by the weekend.

On Wednesday, the Alsatian hospital launched its "white plan", a measure which allows the deprogramming of non-urgent operations and to request staff reinforcements.

Concern at the pulmonology department of the New Civil Hospital (NHC) in Strasbourg in the face of the 5th wave of Covid-19 on December 2, 2021 PATRICK HERTZOG AFP

Sign that the 5th wave of Covid-19 is gaining ground in the region, the hospitals of Mulhouse and Colmar announced a similar measure on Tuesday: with 410 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the Haut-Rhin is currently the most affected territory in the Grand Est , ahead of the Bas-Rhin (400) and far ahead of the national average (311), according to the CovidTracker site.

"Backwards"

In Strasbourg, this is the third time since spring 2020 that the "white plan" has been activated.

During the first two, "we slept, we worked, we slept, we worked", remembers Stella.

"We came frankly at one point backwards because it was war medicine," says the young woman.

"This period, I really, really don't want to relive it ..."

"We can feel the 5th wave coming," warns Emmanuel Andrès, president of the Medical Commission for the establishment of Strasbourg University Hospitals (HUS).

For the moment the situation is manageable, "with about 80 patients (Covid) hospitalized for more than 2,000 beds", explains the chief medical officer of the HUS.

But this figure has doubled in a short time: "a week ago, we had 40, including 10 in intensive care", against 20 in "sheaves" today.

Added to this are the traditional end-of-year pathologies, such as the flu, swelling admissions: "usually, we have around 180 adult emergency room admissions per day during this period", explains Prof. Andrès, also head of the department. of internal doctor of the HUS. There, "we are rather (around) 250 (...) For the moment, we manage to manage emergencies" or "+ semi-emergencies + but it is at the cost of a lot of hardship for the teams".

The activation of the "white plan", "it is unfortunately a sequence that we know well", with caregivers who will have to be called back as reinforcements, sighs Frédéric de Blay, head of the pneumology service.

Even if, this time, it repeats itself "in a situation even more complicated than before", with "big problems" of understaffing.

"Hopeless"

What makes caregivers "sad" is "to see unvaccinated people still arriving" at the hospital.

It's really hopeless ", laments the pulmonologist.

"Nine out of 10 patients in intensive care are not vaccinated or do not have the complete scheme", abounds Pr Andrès, according to which the appearance of the Omicron variant in France (three cases were discovered, including one in the Haut-Rhin) should not be forgotten that our "main objective" remains the Delta, against which vaccination is "100% effective".

He insists on the importance of barrier gestures, rather little observed during the first days of the Strasbourg Christmas Market, inaugurated on Friday.

"It worries us a lot," he said, without commenting on the advisability of closing this popular event.

After "almost two years" of struggle, Stella Zirnheld says she feels "a lot of apprehension" and "weariness".

She also confides in her anguish at having to relive the same "absolutely horrible" and "psychologically and physically" exhausting periods of the previous four waves.

© 2021 AFP