Between 100 and 150 nursing homes in Ile-de-France are already affected by the coronavirus epidemic, said on Wednesday the president of the French Hospital Federation (FHF). According to him, we do not yet know the exact extent of the phenomenon at the national level.
“We know that in Ile-de-France, out of the 700 nursing homes (note: accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people) , there are roughly between 100 and 150 who could already be affected by Covid-19 "Said Frédéric Valletoux on Franceinfo.
The number of people affected by coronavirus in nursing homes is not known. "We do not know exactly what the real situation is," acknowledged the president of the FHF, an organization comprising 1,000 public hospitals and 3,800 public nursing homes.
Soon daily monitoring in Ehpad
"We do not know today how to measure the extent of the damage in retirement homes, you have to be lucid to say it," insisted Frédéric Valletoux, referring to "a gray area". Nevertheless, "we have testimonies of a very tense situation," he added.
In the coming days, a "daily monitoring of mortality" in institutions for the elderly, will be implemented, announced Tuesday the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon. Along with hospitals, nursing homes are the main places of death, he said.
"Give information to families"
Several dozen deaths have been reported in recent days in nursing homes, hit hard by the epidemic, despite a strict confinement of residents. Tuesday, the management of the retirement home and geriatrics of the Rothschild foundation, in Paris (12th), announced the death of 16 people and the contamination of 81 others.
For families who are denied visits, the situation is difficult and frightening. "We must give them information, we must reassure them by telling them that all measures are taken", insisted Frédéric Valletoux
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The president of the FHF also called for equipping the teams "taking charge" of the residents as quickly as possible. "Today, there is an emergency, it is the protective measures for the personnel [...] Clearly, it is slow to arrive on the ground", he regretted.