After hearing Pr Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, the Covid parliamentary information mission, equipped with the powers of a commission of inquiry, heard five other key players in the management of the health crisis. Among them, the president of the Scientific Council who defends the use of confinement.
This is the start of a long journey for the members of the National Assembly’s Covid information mission. Since Tuesday, the 32 parliamentarians have been hearing public health, political and scientific officials. Their goal: to understand. Among the gray areas to be clarified on the gloomy picture of French crisis management, which has resulted in nearly 30,000 deaths -as of today-, the deputies intend to pay particular attention to the shortage of masks at the start of the crisis, to the reasons for the large number of deaths in Ehpadou and to see if confinement could have been avoided with better preparation.
After a first hearing of the Director General of Health, Pr Jérôme Salomon, last Tuesday who defended his assessment more than he answered questions, the Covid-19 information mission, equipped with the prerogatives of a commission of inquiry, interviewed four other public health officials in office or their predecessors as well as representatives of the Scientific Council.
Some of those interviewed shared their questions and concerns, while others remained evasive. This is the case of Geneviève Chêne, the current director general of Public Health France. Like its director, Jérôme Salomon, it claims to have “found a house in working order” and, like him, she highlighted the efforts made to respond to the emergency without explaining the shortage of masks. “We act on the instructions of the ministry,” she replied, however she conceded at the end of the hearing that she only discovered in January – a few weeks after her appointment – that she only had 100 million compliant masks left in reserve.
Budget cuts and the “belief” in the “ineffectiveness of masks”
A very “cautious” speech but understandable in view of the forty complaints filed against X, in particular for “endangering the life of others“in the context of the management of the health crisis. However, his predecessor François Bourdillon, director of Public Health France from 2016 to 2018, was more transparent.”I think that there was, in the decision-making process, a whole series of people who did not really believe in the usefulness of masks in the population“, he said. This would partly explain the reason why while there were only 100 million usable surgical masks left, only 100 million were ordered in 2019 despite a 2018 audit which recommended building up a reserve. of 1 billion masks. François Bourdillon continues to question his former superior before the deputies. He claims to have, in September 2018, transmitted this recommendation to Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, stressing that the state of the inventory”did not provide protection” of the country in the event of an epidemic. He also claims to have asked him for a “doctrine“clear on this strategic stock.
He also regretted in front of the deputies the budget cuts he had to face as well as the job cuts within Public Health France which have “had to play” and have a “impact” on the agency’s missions.
Confinement: “we had no choice”
The Scientific Council was also convened before the elected officials. “The choice of confinement was for us imposed by the crisis which was preparing in the intensive care unitspoints Arnaud Fontanet epidemiologist and member of the Council. But even the other European countries, which were not in this critical situation, have chosen containment“.”We had no choice” he assured, explaining that the French had – at the time – neither the “mask-wearing culture“, nor “hand hygiene“, nor the “IT monitoring tools“allowing the tracing of patients.
Why does France have nearly 30,000 dead while Germany – more populous than France – only counts a little over 8,000? To this embarrassing question, virologist Bruno Lina assures us that the decentralized system across the Rhine has allowed him to be more reactive. But the real difference seems to be the contribution of the star virologist, Christian Drosten, inventor of the first diagnostic test for Covid-19 and supporter of a massive screening strategy, who had had access to information “early” allowing Germany to prepare better.
Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, President of the Council, and his peers took advantage of this platform to warn deputies about the risk of a second wave. “What are we going to do in the fall? did he declare. We have to prepare it now.” For the time being, French women tend to abandon masks and forget barrier gestures a month after deconfinement. Jean-François Delfraissy’s precautionary message therefore risks being difficult to hear, especially since the Scientific Council should be dissolved on July 9th. Looking too much for past “failures”, will the deputies forget that the pandemic is still not over?
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