This weekend, he reread his logbook, kept in March, at the very start of the Covid-19 epidemic. “The statistics don't lie, we got eaten up in two weeks. If, under his mask, Xavier Lescure's voice trembles a little, it is because the 48-year-old professor of medicine says he is "freaked out", fearing to see things repeat themselves. So, the deputy head of the infectious disease department at Bichat, a Parisian hospital which was on the front line against the coronavirus, warns: the current increase, even slight, in hospitalizations must be taken seriously. At stake: avoiding a high risk re-entry.
What do you say to those who feel that “nothing” is happening today in the hospital?
PR XAVIER LESCURE . That it is wrong. In June, nothing was happening. Now, there are new hospitalizations every day, two here just last night ( Editor's note: Tuesday evening ). We are not saturated, it is managed well, but the error would be to wait for the outbreak to sound the reminder. Now is the time to be on the lookout.
Even if the number of patients in intensive care remains stable?
We should not be fooled by this figure ( Editor's note: 379 patients in intensive care on Wednesday evening across France ). Taken in a raw manner, it looks low. But a real case, that means 20, 30, 40 patients circulating in town! None of the predictive markers of the epidemic are good. However, the experience of the first wave tells us: when the machine is launched, it is difficult to stop it.
Could she get carried away at the start of the school year?
If, collectively, we are not more vigilant in the face of the virus, I fear fireworks around September 15-20. This corresponds to the end of the holidays, the return to work, the times of incubation and progression to a severe form of the disease. At the hospital, we are preparing for the start of the school year.
How? 'Or' What ?
We are already treating caregivers! We preserve them, we make sure that they no longer have suitcases in front of them and in their heads. Then, we give feedback and all the procedures are updated, like a Covid checklist . Finally, we are extremely attentive to signals: we have a warning role. It must nevertheless be said that things are different: there are many more tests and means, and we too know how to take care of patients better today than yesterday.
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Who are your hospital patients?
Always the elderly or those with frailty, comorbidities or very immunosuppressed. We have rare patients who do not get rid of the virus, even after several months of infection. But there are also patients who are younger and / or with less severe forms than during the first wave. Because we can materially, we take them “Marseille”, that is to say early in the course of the disease.
Today, what do you need?
From a total support of the population to barrier gestures, and their confidence. I'm not here to judge, but the rave party in Lozère was madness. Let us show solidarity in this painful period for everyone. Personally, I tell myself that 2020 is already rotten, but that everything must be done so that it does not get even worse.