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Jérôme Salomon, the government's coronavirus

2020-03-29T05:48:42.257Z


For the past two months, the Director General of Health has appeared almost every day a little before 8 p.m. on news channels to make


"Good evening, I start with the international situation. Like a ritual, this formula resounds in the homes of all French people at dinner time. Since January 22, a man with a round face and a bald head appears behind a desk. His voice may be surprisingly calm, everyone trembles when he hears it. At the microphone, Jérôme Salomon takes a long count of the victims of the epidemic due to the coronavirus. Every day, the picture gets darker: more and more cases, more deaths, everywhere, all the time. In France alone, the first death on February 5, seems far away. Since the balance sheet has increased: 9 on March 6, 127 on 15, 450 on 20, 1 696 on 26 and 2314 this Saturday evening. As soon as he speaks, it's never a good sign. Even if, these last nights, he makes it a point of honor to linger on the healed.

This young fifties, who will be 51 years old on April 26, has been the Director General of Health for two years. "The DGS", as it is called in jargon. A strategic position so far totally unknown to the general public. And yet, in reality, this man is the right arm of the Minister of Health. Number 2, propelled to the front line in the management of an hardly believable epidemic. "He is the buffer between scientists and the government. A fuse, ”says one of his peers, a doctor like him.

Absolute discretion

But who is really Professor Jérôme Salomon? "You will never manage to make two pages on him," laughs one of his colleagues when he is told to work on a long portrait. Secret, reserved, modest… all describe a man of absolute discretion to us. Used to the shadows, this senior official on the left finds himself catapulted into bright light. "No one has been as exposed as him over such a short period," notes Djillali Annane, head of resuscitation at Raymond-Poincaré de Garches hospital, where he met him twenty years ago.

VIDEO. Coronavirus: who is Jérôme Salomon?

However, Salomon is far from being a beginner. Before being "Monsieur Coronavirus", this Parisian by birth oscillated between political and medical offices. Professor of medicine, he has built his reputation on his knowledge of infectious diseases, emerging viruses, epidemics ... right on target, as if the coronavirus was made for him! "What he says is informed by what he knows," cowardly as obvious, Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious diseases department of Tenon hospital. The public health expert has always been thirsty for knowledge.

This doctor in epidemiology puts on his researcher coat at the Institut Pasteur, teaches at the University of Versailles, cares for the sick in Garches. A little medicine, a little politics. A little politics, a little medicine. “Jérôme, I love it. The guy is really well trained! I spotted him when he was internal and I recruited him in 97, when I was Minister of Health, recalls Bernard Kouchner. He was the youngest in my practice, but a real health security pro. He formed a sacred dream team with Martin Hirsh ( Editor's note: current boss of Paris hospitals ). "

A role in the shortage of masks?

The young infectious disease specialist takes a liking to the spheres of power. Fifteen years after Kouchner, we find him with Marisol Touraine, who became Minister of Health under Holland. Then, in 2016, he rallied the candidate Macron, and wrote the health section of his presidential program. “He has a rare skill, that of being both a public health expert and a doctor. He knows how to manage patients, emergencies and families, ”says his friend, immunologist Olivier Lambotte. This double cap, this is what makes it legitimate as a DGS, assure those close to it in unison. "He is the man for the job," says Djillali Annane.

Not all are of the same opinion. This Thursday, three caregivers said they would file a complaint against him, for "failures in the management of the health crisis. What makes your teeth cringe the most is the aberrant lack of masks. From day to day, we discover that stocks have melted like snow in the sun during the quinquennium of François Hollande. But then, at the time, Jérôme Salomon was already in the close custody of the State. From 2013 to 2015, he was an advisor, in charge of health security, to the Minister Touraine.

After working with two Health Ministers, Kouchner and Touraine, Salomon rallied candidate Macron in 2016./Reuters/Ludovic Marin

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A period during which the renewal of protective equipment does not seem to be a priority. Did Solomon Underestimate Their Importance? What role did he play in this shortage? During his traditional press briefing in the evening, the interested party kicks in. “We had feedback. Each time, expert opinions have guided the government on the right overall response. ” Understand who can.

"He deserves better than counting the dead on TV"

On several occasions, he also insisted: no need for masks for the whole population in times of coronavirus. Really? However, his words were more direct on paper. In 2009, he co-signed with Bruno Lina, now a member of the Scientific Council entirely dedicated to Covid-19, a book of interviews entitled "the truth about the H1N1 flu" (Frison-Roche edition), which takes stock of managing this epidemic. When asked, "Has the effectiveness of masks been proven?" ", Dr. Salomon replied:" masks are very effective barrier measures. "

"Of course he knows! bounces his ex-colleague Professor Annane. If there is a shortage today, it has nothing to do with it. I think it brought up the problem but that the political decisions did not follow. Jérôme is very respectful of institutions, he will never say publicly that something is wrong. "Knowing the character, one can hardly suspect him of having taken this lightly. He is convinced by prevention. He likes procedures, putting things flat. Have we listened to it? Perhaps his problem is that he is not able to punch the table, "assumes Christian Perronne, his former boss, who knew him from his internship in Garches," in short pants. "

In short, a disciplined student as summed up by his desk alone, turned towards the Invalides: hydroalcoholic gel everywhere and the Hippocratic Oath hanging in front of him. “It does not secrete antibodies, laughs the infectious disease specialist Eric Caumes. He is always very courteous, polite and correct. He's a nice guy who deserves better than counting the dead on TV. Like any good soldier, he endorses the strategy of the Great mute. The DGS will also not give us a minute of interview, believing that it must give way before the scale of the crisis. If with his friends and colleagues he likes to discuss mad cow, Ebola, Lyme or antibiotic resistance for a long time, rare are those who receive his confidences.

A pianist and music lover, not always supported by his peers

Even after a year of military service, performed together at the Bégin Army Training Hospital, his friend Olivier Lambotte described "a serious boy who did not give himself up much. He is someone who is fundamentally good and calm. Not sure if he saw him getting angry. You really have to stack the plates for it to crack. After twelve months of treating the soldiers hand in hand "full of bizarre parasites and viruses", he only knows a few scraps of his private life. “I didn't try to ask him questions, concedes Lambotte, it would have bothered him. "

Jérôme Salomon practiced at the Garches hospital (Hauts-de-Seine), as a specialist in infectious and tropical diseases./Institut Pasteur

From him, we know that his great-grandfather discovered the diphtheria vaccine in the 1920s. He is a fine pianist and music lover. And that his breathing, he finds - or rather found it before the crisis - in Quiberon, during long strolls at the water's edge, with his three big children. “He has a passion for them. He always talks about it with extreme closeness and advises them without obliging them. He's a good dad, a modern man of the 21st century, ”says Didier Guillemot, who directed his research thesis and became his friend.

Divorced, he still speaks with respect of his ex-wife. His only flaw, according to Guillemot: “Like many doctors, Jérôme lacks obstinacy on research questions. He jumps on a thousand subjects at the same time, like when you enter a pastry shop and want to eat all the cakes. His discretion justifies him by his experience. "You know, when we take slaps, we partition. He was not always supported by his peers, some tried to vassalize him. After that, we pay attention to what we say. "

A political end to "dog life"

But make no mistake, all that does not prevent Jérôme Salomon from being a political end. The mastery of his communication, he demonstrates it every night when he addresses the French: words weighed, dropped in an equal tone, whatever the seriousness of his announcements. "It doesn't look tragic," says Bernard Kouchner. "Losing your temper is not his style. He knows what he wants. As a colleague, we felt that he was on a trajectory, a destiny. He was not one of the colleagues for whom we say: he will stay twenty years here in the hospital, ”says Anne-Claude Crémieux, professor of infectious diseases.

When he worked in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine), Salomon had imagined the scenario of a hospital at the time of a bioterrorist attack. Transformation of buildings, isolation of infected patients, intubation of contagious patients ... or how exercise became reality with the coronavirus pandemic. If, on the screen, the Director General of Health seems impassive, how does the man live the situation? "His days are appalling, he has a dog life, barely sleeps, had to give up the morning gym sessions that he had imposed since his appointment to the DGS", book pell-mell his entourage. It is enough to observe it well to see its eyes shrinking week after week.

"He is fragile, not in the sense of he will crack but his motivation means that he will give himself without counting and without protecting himself, fears Djillali Annane. The risk is that in the end, he will be unhappy. It is on him that all the criticism will fall once the crisis is over, when one thing is certain, he does not deserve it. ” What would the interested party say? Jérôme Salomon replied to a friend who recently sent him a support text telling him to take the helm: “I have it! "

BIO EXPRESS

April 26, 1969: Jérôme Salomon is born in Paris.

2002: doctor, specialist in infectious and tropical diseases, he practices at the Raymond Poincaré hospital in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine)

2013: for two years, he became an advisor, in charge of health security to the PS Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine.

January 8, 2018: appointed Director General of Health (DGS) by Agnès Buzyn, then Minister.

January 22, 2020: at the ministry desk, he does not yet know that he is giving the first of a long series of press conferences. Every evening, he takes stock of the situation of the coronavirus epidemic in France and around the world.

March 17, 2020: after the containment measures, he continues his press briefings but without a journalist. Each intervention is filmed and broadcast on social networks and by news channels continuously.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2020-03-29

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