Admittedly, Professor Rémi Salomon is outside when he answers our questions. But the representative of the doctors of the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris (the AP-HP, which manages 39 establishments in Ile-de-France) insists: if he got on his bike, it is only to fulfill his role caregiver and care organizer. For the rest, the doctor wants to be clear: containment is essential to fight against the coronavirus. And will be necessary still "at least" a month.
Being confined, what is it for in the first place?
RÉMI SALOMON . To slow the spread of the virus and prevent an excessive wave of patients from falling on the hospital. You don't realize how many people you can get out of your home. You mustn't be cowardly and say: you can do a little sport , you can see your neighbors. No, the greater the containment, the more effective it is. In this, political speeches lack coherence.
But what difference is there in being at home with your child, or playing outside with him?
The difference is that you will push a door, press the elevator button, meet people who will have the same idea as you ... We talk too little about contamination by hands, while the virus remains alive for several hours, even up to 24 hours, for example on a door handle. You touch an infected surface, you wear without even realizing your fingers on your face and voila: you have caught the virus ... and are contagious. We are dealing with an invisible enemy, who can be present everywhere. You have to wash your hands, be extra careful. For a while, let's get obsessive!
"One time", what are the fortnight announced for confinement?
It will be more! Containment will have to - and will - last longer. In the Paris region, the peak of the epidemic is not expected until the first half of April. The choice was made to make progressive announcements but I say it: we left for confinement for at least another month, even a month and a half. I appreciate how complicated it is for everyone. But if you take a medical point of view, there is no other choice.
For immediate effects?
No, we will have to wait about fifteen days to see the positive effects of confinement. Today, there are 20% more hospitalizations in intensive care per day and this will probably continue to increase. This is not due to a failure of containment but to the time of incubation of the virus. We will have to hold on, be patient. At the end, we will see results.
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Why not imitate South Korea: tests and masks for everyone?
At the next epidemic, we will do it. There it is too late. In Korea, from the first cases, massive tests were carried out: nearly 20,000 per day, with isolation of positive people and quasi-police investigation to find all the contacts. In France, part of the population is already infected or in the incubation period.
So we reacted too late!
Rewriting history is difficult. A few weeks ago, such an epidemic in France was unimaginable. Asians know that it is possible, they keep the wound from their previous deadly epidemics and they have extremely active policies. I listened to recordings dating from the 1970s from Professor Robert Debré (Editor's note: famous doctor born in 1882, died in 1978) who recounts the trauma of the Spanish Flu of 1918. It is now up to us to learn about the coronavirus.