Engaged in the battle against Covid-19 since February 16, the date on which he replaced Agnès Buzyn at the Ministry of Health, Olivier Véran does not intend to lower his guard, despite a point of fatigue which sometimes transpires in the interview that he granted us. It reminds us to be vigilant and respect barrier gestures during this holiday period conducive to carelessness and festive gatherings highly prized by young people. It also announces the immediate availability of tests for all, reimbursable and now accessible without a medical prescription.
There is more and more talk of a rebound in the epidemic. How worried are you?
OLIVIER VÉRAN. Currently, we cannot speak of a second wave. But one thing is certain: we have seen, for a few days, the number of positive cases rise sharply while it has been falling for thirteen weeks. It has reached the same daily level today as when the confinement was lifted. We also notice, during massive screening campaigns, that the patients are young, younger than during the previous wave. The rate of asymptomatics is extremely high. This is particularly the case in Ile-de-France where we see young people arriving who have been infected without knowing how.
How to explain it?
The vulnerable and the elderly have no doubt maintained a high level of caution, while the young are less careful. This is what we see in particular during festive and especially family gatherings at the origin of clusters. In addition, the number of tests carried out has been greatly increased. After May 11, we did a little over 200,000 per week, now I can tell you that we are approaching 500,000 tests per week with a positive rate of around 1 to 1, 5%. It is no longer the virus that stalks us, it is us that stalk it. As we test more, we find more patients. I therefore appeal to the youth to be vigilant.
What do you tell them?
I tell them that I fully understand their need for a change of scenery and a breath of fresh air, but the virus does not take a vacation. We haven't won the war yet. In Catalonia, as we have seen, many young people were infected and the virus ended up spreading in the population. He can strike anywhere, so we must continue to apply barrier gestures, respect social distances, wear a mask and be screened in case of doubt. I also signed an order, published this Saturday, which allows anyone today to benefit from a fully reimbursed PCR test, without the need for a prescription and without having to justify the process. or have symptoms.
Could you decide to close bars in some areas?
Of course, we might have to. Look in Mayenne, I asked the prefect to ban all gatherings of more than ten people as long as the virus is circulating too heavily. This can go as far as limiting the opening of establishments if necessary. This is one of the possibilities.
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Are you also inviting young people to use the StopCovid app, which we don't hear much about?
The StopCovid application has not disappeared from our priorities. It's an additional warning system that makes perfect sense in this summer period, especially for young people who have to come together and be a little less vigilant than usual. It allows you to alert someone who may have been in contact, for a long time, with a person carrying the virus. More than two million people have downloaded it, which is not enough because as many French people as possible need to use it. If we ever had a resumption of the epidemic, the tracing of potentially contaminated and therefore potentially contagious people would be greatly facilitated. When someone is informed that they are at risk, they will spontaneously go for testing. If it is positive, it will prevent infecting other people without knowing it because there is a good chance that it will be asymptomatic.
On paper, taking a test is easy but, in reality, the waiting times for an appointment and the result can take several days ...
In more than 80% of cases, test results are returned on average in thirty-six hours. Which doesn't mean it doesn't get stuck in some places. I myself have had to call laboratory directors, and I have done so several times this week, to call them to order. This delay can be due to a lack of arms, and this is why I authorized the orderlies, the health students, the rescuers, or the laboratory technicians to carry out the tests. There have been traffic jams, it is true, especially in the capital in recent days because many Parisians go on vacation, sometimes in countries which require to present a test carried out in the last seventy-two hours. This has created an imbalance between supply and demand and we are working to correct it. In Ile-de-France, we have thus identified 30 laboratories, part of large private groups, which do not perform any PCR test. We called them all to do it.
Why don't some labs play along?
Some tell me that they have a lot of exams to perform, others have not necessarily put in place the hygiene measures to welcome Covid patients or the staff has gone on vacation. I can hear everything. But anyway, we are talking about giants of medical biology, that we do not tell me that they cannot organize themselves! On this subject, I am totally uncompromising.
Isn't it tiring to always have to call everyone to order?
I don't take myself for Don Quixote. We have managed to increase the number of tests considerably. It's complicated, I would like everything to go faster, the pressure is obviously strong, but I get results. What I asked about saliva testing, what we need to know and without delay is if they can become a useful and rapid addition to virological PCR testing. Everyone must do their best. Because the situation demands it, we must all increase our efforts tenfold even if I know it well, there is fatigue. As a minister, I spend my days, my nights counting the number of tests, masks, thinking and getting organized. It's a constant battle.
Mandatory tests for passengers from 16 “red” countries have been announced. Why did you wait so long ?
It is wrong to say that we have not done anything for months at arrivals at airports. People don't know it, but over the past five and a half months, 600,000 travelers passing through Roissy have had the temperature checked remotely using thermal cameras. 30 were referred to health services, and only one tested positive for Covid! We are the most interventionist country in Europe on the issue. When we test 100 people in the street in France, we find one positive. And the proportion is the same at an airport. We are therefore not in a situation where we let in thousands of sick passengers that we then let go to invade the French streets.
What is the meaning of your recommendation not to go to Catalonia? What should a family do when they have booked their holidays in this part of Spain?
We note a poorly controlled epidemic in part of Catalonia. This has led the region to take progressive reconfinement measures. It is therefore difficult for us to recommend that the French go there, where it is forbidden to go out, to move around normally, to go to the beach or to the restaurant. We therefore advise, even to those who have booked vacations, not to go there for the moment.
Is the closure of the Franco-Spanish border envisaged?
Many borders are already closed, like the one with the United States, for example. The one between France and Spain is not because the measure is not justified for the moment, given the very strong health rules taken by the Catalan region. By asking its population not to move, to stay at home, Spain has in a way created its own borders.
To return to the epidemic, more and more families of victims are asking for the creation of a national day of mourning, is this planned?
We have collective resilience work to do. Mourning is made difficult, people were not able to bury their dead, everything was done in a context of general fear in the face of an epidemic which struck more every day. Some have lost loved ones, others have been sick, tired and still have symptoms. I absolutely do not neglect people's suffering and we understand it and accompany it with the greatest kindness. But we are not at the stage where we can look back, we are still in an active fight. Today we must do everything so that one day we can talk about this virus in the past tense.