The mental health of the French is “significantly degraded”
The Minister of Health began his update by evoking the psychological suffering of the French in relation to the consequences of the epidemic. According to him, ” the mental health of the French has significantly deteriorated […], with a consequent increase in depressive states observed across all socio-demographic profiles “. Ill-being, anxiety of developing a serious form of the disease, fear and guilt of infecting those close to him, loss of bond with others… This is what Olivier Véran defines as being “ a hidden phase of what we have been going through for several months, which we call discomfort, fed up, stress, anxiety, depression “.
He said that the ‘coronavirus information’ psychological help hotline had recorded more than 2 million calls since April and currently has nearly 20,000 daily calls. To cope with this observation, Olivier Véran announced that 41 medico-psychological emergency cells have been set up since March, having carried out 8,000 treatments during the first wave before adding that ” 160 psychologists are currently being recruited in medico-psychological centers “.
Update on the numbers
To present the latest figures relating to the Covid-19 epidemic in France, Olivier Véran gave the floor to Jérome Salomon, Director General of Health. We thus learn that the number of Covid hospital patients is down for the third consecutive day with currently 32,314 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, including 4,637 in intensive care units.
If Jérôme Salomon confirms a slowing down of the epidemic, Olivier Véran wished to recall that ” health pressure remains extremely high and hospitals are still under a very heavy burden in terms of patients. […] During the 24 hours, it is as if a patient is admitted to intensive care every four minutes “. This is why the Minister of Health calls on the French not to relax their efforts and their vigilance for the duration necessary to end the epidemic.
The worrying situation of nursing homes
Regarding EHPADs, Brigitte Bourguignon, Minister Delegate in charge of autonomy, intervened to mention ” a worrying situation “. According to her, more than one in five nursing homes is affected by several cases of Covid. As of November 16, 1,539 clusters were under investigation. This is why she wanted to encourage nursing homes to test their staff on a weekly basis and also encouraged visitors to perform a PCR test 72 hours before their visit or an antigen test during the day.
Deconfinement is not yet relevant
As for deconfinement, the Minister of Health announced that the confinement is not over and that it was not yet a matter of deconfining the country. He explains it as follows: “ Just because the tide is dropping does not mean that we can already go out into the street with peace of mind. […] It’s not because it’s going down that it’s low “. If we do not know more about the deconfinement, we will know more during the second assessment of the reconfinement which will be given by Emmanuel Macron, next week.
