He had been coughing for two or three days, but had no known health problem with his relatives, who saw nothing coming. The phone was ringing in the air, so they called the police, who found him dead in his home. After a lung scan, forensics found "lung damage from Covid-associated lung disease that resulted in death." This scenario has been repeated several times in Ile-de-France in recent weeks. The deceased were sixty, barely fifty at times, like this caregiver on sick leave, who worked in a nursing home in Essonne, and for which the Evry public prosecutor's office requested an autopsy.
How many are these deceased Covid-19 patients? Several hundred? Thousands? If every evening, Jérôme Salomon, the Director General of Health, counts the deaths in hospitals and in medico-social establishments, he never mentions these women, these men who die at home. However, how not to wonder, in the light of the figures made public by INSEE, this Friday, April 10? In March, all-cause mortality at home jumped 23% across the country, compared to the same month of 2019, with peaks at 44% for Ile-de-France and 32% for the region Grand-Est, regions also hard hit by coronavirus.
What is the responsibility of the Covid-19? Difficult to know, since the screenings are not systematized and that in its opinion of March 24, the High Council for public health, indicates that "it is not recommended to carry out a diagnostic test of infection by SARS-CoV-2 in deceased people ”.
"One of the traps, the bad perception of his condition"
Healthcare professionals, who work at home, doctors and nurses, have little doubt about the deadly share of coronavirus outside hospitals. "I accompanied an 86-year-old gentleman who had the Covid, who died last week after going to hospital," confirms Ghislaine Sicre, president of the Convergence infirmière union. In her village of Hérault and in the neighboring commune, she blamed two other deaths for the virus.
Caregivers are not the only ones to think that dead people escape official statistics, like this officer of the police, in Ile-de-France. "When you see handkerchiefs everywhere and there is no medical history, you have to have doubts about the cause of death, anyway, when you intervene for a death at home right now, the starting postulate is that he can be Covid ". And during neighborhood inquiries, from now on, a systematic question: “Did the deceased cough in the last few days? "
Is it possible to be struck down without even having time to call a doctor for help? “We know that Covid can cause cardiac arrest by thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, recalls Lionel Lamhaut, emergency doctor at Necker Hospital in Paris, who coordinates medical transfers of patients in intensive care from Ile-de-France. "One of the big traps, as we have seen, is the poor perception of his condition, especially when there is no respiratory discomfort," he continues. He also fears that the increase in deaths is caused by the fact that patients no longer call for help at the first warning signals in the event of stroke or infarction. After, it is too late.
It will still take time to measure the extent of the dramas. The Directorate General of Health invites doctors to communicate as soon as possible and by email all the declarations of death. Inserm (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) and Public Health France will then have to analyze the data to deduce the overall number of deaths (at home, in hospitals, in nursing homes, etc.) linked to the pandemic, according to, adds the Ministry of Health, contacted Friday, "a well-honed method, already used for flu epidemics or heat waves".