“We must learn to live with the virus and continue to live”

Is a resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic looming?

We cannot speak of recovery as such, but what is certain is that the virus continues to run. The OR, the reproduction rate of the coronavirus, was close to zero just before deconfinement. It has exceeded 1. We are witnessing the resurgence of clusters in the country with the objective of identifying source subjects and we have clearly seen with Spain the possibility of starting again with containment measures. So yes, the virus is still there. It was expected with the heat that he would weaken, it is not. Also the fears relate to the moment when the climatic conditions and the cooling of temperatures will be more favorable to its propagation. We must remain vigilant. We only have eight months of hindsight. The medical care teams are progressing step by step in understanding it. It’s like when AIDS first appeared, it still hasn’t gone away today.

Is the hospital always on the front line?

Of course, we have daily meetings. He is always organized to receive patients. A Covid unit remained on standby. It is immediately operational if a case arises. And all patients suspected of Covid fall into an identified sector, including the emergency unit. The flows do not cross. But with the summer we are in a situation of tension: There is a lack of caregivers, we accuse the closure of beds, there was the heat wave and the Covid is there. We are in expectation.

What do you recommend as a bulwark against the circulation of the virus?

Scrupulous attention to barrier gestures and behave as responsible citizens to give caregivers time to get the hang of it. The first line is the wearing of the mask in closed places and potentially in the street. We must stop crying scandal on this point. The aim is to limit the spread of the virus. Then a principle of reality applies as for family meals or in restaurants, but as far as possible it is advisable to keep your distance and to wash your hands well, use gel and avoid touching your face, because airborne transmission is one thing, but skin contamination is also a reality.

How do you explain this back-pedaling in Agen with the wearing of the more marked mask at the present time, which follows regroupings with faces discovered after May 11?

The young people were confined for three months, deprived of outings, just communicating on social networks, we can understand that they needed exchanges, sharing. But not just young people. Social and economic life had to resume, we are Latins with a sense of celebration. You can’t stop people from living, you just have to learn to live with the virus. But when they come together, a person affected by the Covid can infect several in 10 minutes. We must also insist on the need to ventilate its home several times a day and disinfect its toilets because faecal contamination is potentially risky.

Are we seeing new forms of the disease, patients with the “long Covid”?

These are monitored by the internal medicine and infectious diseases department. We have seen digestive signs of diarrhea type. This is in addition to the first known clinical pictures. If you have symptoms, you have to stop going everywhere and isolate yourself. We remain in a citizen prevention policy that goes in the collective direction. You can’t test everyone, you have to do it with good intelligence and if it brings something like protecting vulnerable people or raising doubts.

What are the benefits in spite of everything?

We could see that the public / private health teams were very united, it is now up to us to integrate medico-social actors. And above all the regulation at the center 15 by the reinforcement of liberal medicine works very well. The mistake would be to backtrack.

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