Emergency doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, where the two coronavirus patients died, Quentin Delannoy explains how the increase in the number of suspected cases in France no longer allows all patients to be tested.
Are there caregivers infected with the coronavirus at Pitié-Salpêtrière as is the case at Tenon?
QUENTIN DELANNOY. So far, no. Some have been quarantined since returning from vacation after traveling to a contaminated area like Italy or because they were in contact with a coronavirus patient in the hospital. This is currently the case for a caregiver.
How has the hospital prepared for a possible epidemic?
For the past two weeks, training has accelerated with medical and paramedical staff in order to limit the risk of contamination. Wash your hands as much as possible, properly position a mask, put on and take off the outfit: the surgical gown, the cap, two pairs of gloves, overshoes ... We are covered from head to toe when examining a patient. These are standard protection measures that we know well and are already using for the Sea, another virus. We also receive daily emails to inform us of the evolution of the epidemic.
Are caregivers worried?
No, it's more the patients. As soon as a person coughs in the waiting room, everyone gets up and walks away. We had to lock up our protective masks because they are stolen from us in the reserves.
Even if the health authorities recommend contacting the EMS and not going to the emergency room, are patients still going there?
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Yes and there are many! I myself have come across suspicious cases with mild forms. When a potential patient presents, he is taken out of the waiting room and he returns by another entrance, located at the back of the emergency room. If he has gone to an endemic area, he is then put in an isolation box and then received by a doctor who will ask him more specific questions in order to assess his level of severity and judge if hospitalization is necessary. . If this is the case, a screening test is carried out. But if it is useless, he goes home with a 14-day sick leave and prevention instructions.
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Do you mean that not all patients are screened?
Indeed ! The tests are performed only in the infectious disease departments where they are hospitalized. In the past day or two, there have been so many suspicious cases that we cannot screen everyone.
If a person coughs with a little fever and comes back from Lombardy (Italy), are they told to go home?
It's exactly that. If she has a mild form, she is sent home for quarantine without being diagnosed. Inevitably, patients are a little reluctant to isolate themselves, at home, 14 days when they do not know if they have the coronavirus. The Samu is starting to do the same. If a patient calls and has a mild fever and mild cough, they are told to stay home. It is worrying but we do with what we have. The hospital is already saturated, the number of beds is not expandable.
Will the number of patients be underestimated?
Probably, but it is everywhere in other countries as well. A person who is doing well and has few or no symptoms does not need to be hospitalized. There is not necessarily a reason to screen it even if people find it difficult to understand it. In the hospital, we deal with serious cases. It's a bit the same treatment as for the flu. Even if there is a psychosis in the population, Covid-19 remains a viral infection among others.
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