“You don't send soldiers into combat without giving them helmets. In an "Open Letter to Olivier Véran, Minister of Solidarity and Health" dated March 19, which we publish exclusively, Claude Got, professor of medicine, Catherine Hill, epidemiologist, Michel Parigot, researcher in mathematics at the CNRS , president of the Jussieu anti-asbestos committee, Chantal Perrichon, president of the League against road violence, call on the government to "organize the production of masks". And call for "testing and isolating people infected" with the coronavirus.
" Minister,
Committed in the field of health security (asbestos, road safety, tobacco, etc.) for a long time, we know that decisions are not enough and that organization and practical implementation are essential. When the order of magnitude of the number of victims is ten thousand, the details are measured in thousands.
The President of the Republic informed us on March 16 that we are at war. This late declaration only highlights the decisional shortcomings that have led to the current situation. By announcing in vague terms the confinement, the president provoked a gigantic transhumance from the cities towards the countryside which will have had the effect of circulating the virus in villages where it had not yet arrived. What is done is done, but two preventive strategy errors can still be corrected and must be corrected as quickly as possible: the detection and isolation of infected people on the one hand and the wearing of the mask on the other.
While the WHO recommends mass testing, our country has chosen the opposite option, performing it only for people whose condition required hospitalization. In a pandemic, not following the general WHO recommendations without producing scientific justifications is not acceptable. The strategy of not testing people with characteristic symptoms and only recommending that they stay at home, without even providing them with a mask, is the assurance of contaminating the entire household each time and spreading a little more broadly the virus. Contaminated people must be tested and isolated, even if their condition does not require any care. This can be done by requisitioning hotels and high school dormitories.
We don't send soldiers into combat without giving them helmets. Without having a sufficient number of masks, the position of the government and the general directorate of health was to say that they were of no use apart from the equipment of hospital staff. This is not true. They protect doubly: they prevent those who are carrying the virus (often without knowing it) from transmitting it and avoid those who are not from recovering it. The countries of Southeast Asia are able to control the epidemic without confinement and the widespread wearing of masks is one of the elements of their strategy.
The government must organize the production of masks, specify the conditions to be fulfilled to ensure their interest and issue specific instructions for their proper use. Waiting for authorizations or approvals to start production would be a serious mistake. The size of the virus is not an objection to the effectiveness of the masks. The virus is carried by droplets of water when coughing, and these droplets do not pass through waterproof tissue. If the wearing of masks was widespread, their users would already have the advantage of not rubbing their faces, noses and mouths during their races.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Similarly, the management of hydroalcoholic gels is totally failing. Even today they are lacking in many pharmacies. It is not enough to authorize pharmacists to produce them, it is necessary to impose them and above all to organize stewardship for this to be possible.
The quality of the management of this epidemic will depend on the ability of public structures to manage a set of details. We are faced with the procrastination of decision-makers who, out of ideology, incompetence and lack of courage, refuse to take the measures necessary to protect citizens. Every day, we are entitled to new proposals, instead of organizing, as the Chinese have done, complete containment and maximum risk reduction during compulsory outings. How many more dead so that the State which calls for everyone's responsibility fully assumes its own?
Please accept, Minister, the expression of our distinguished feelings. "
