Avignon hospital staff fear a third wave after the Christmas holidays

The peak of the second wave has passed but the Avignon hospital remains under pressure with a very high death toll. With the relaxations announced by the president, caregivers now fear a Christmas break and a 3rd wave. Immerse yourself in the heart of Covid units.

Even though the peak of the epidemic is behind us, the Avignon hospital is still in tension in the face of Covid. The intensive care unit was the first to be overwhelmed from the second wave. Since the beginning of September they have had to resort to other services in order to cope with the influx of patients.

An underpowered intensive care unit

“We have been overwhelmed by the first week of September. We had to double the pulley capacity“explains Sébastien Moschietto, the head of the intensive care unit, whose service is underpowered”.We have only 16 ICU beds for 500,000 or even 600,000 inhabitants in Vaucluse and four continuous nursing beds. You would need at least twenty intensive care beds and ten continuous therapy beds, so 30 beds in all.“.

To cope with this influx of patients, a hundred since the beginning of September, the pulley had to appeal support staff from other services. “To double the number of beds, we have created ex-nihilo resuscitation beds starting from cardio intensive care “.

“Even with the influenza A, we have never been overwhelmed in this way. It is unheard of in terms of the influx of patients“- Sébastien Moschietto, head of the intensive care unit

For the various department heads who have confronted Covid at the Avignon hospital, this crisis is “unheard of”. “I started in 2009 at Réa with influenza A, we have never been so overwhelmed. It is unheard of in terms of the influx of patients “, confirms Sébastien Moschietto.

The next battle for them is” increase the number of resuscitation beds to be able to cope with epidemic peaks such as Covid. “We had to move patients off the ward very early. The beds in my ward have been turned into intensive care beds. And even the cardiology staff remained to lend a hand in resuscitation. We really have to fight for the capacities of the intensive care unit in Avignon to increase rapidly and not over several years“says Michel Pansieri, head of the cardiology department.

Caregivers fear a population slowdown

Avignon hospital staff dread the end of year celebrations e the arrival of a third wave. Cécile Madonia, begins to blame the blow. This anesthetist nurse, who usually works in the organ donation department, was redeployed as a reacovido. “For the first wave we rolled up our sleeves, it was obvious, we had to go. Much for this second wave, I admit we are tired. And then, I find that people haven’t paid attention, which is why we’re here today“.

A misunderstanding shared by Simone Casajust, health director of pulmonology: “There is a real gap between what we experience inside the hospital and what we see outside. People don’t realize! You go shopping and you see people wearing masks under their chins, it’s very difficult “.

“Meeting ten people for Christmas, with children, grandchildren, grandparents, is not reasonable“- Sébastien Moschietto

So when it comes to the year-end celebrations, all the hospital staff have put their foot down. Sébastien Moschietto, the head of the intensive care unit, it requires everyone’s responsibility not to end with a third wave in January. “We know that infections are also intrafamilial, and not only in shops, outside. There has to be a collective awareness. Meeting with ten people for Christmas, with children, grandchildren, grandparents, is not reasonable.“

And the head of the pulmonology service, Cherifa Gounane, to send a message to the population: “There is a time when we have to tell ourselves that we are human beings and that we risk being exhausted and not being able to mobilize as much. We have to realize this if there are too many emergency room arrivals, we won’t be able to take care of everyone. It is very important that the population is responsible and respects barrier gestures“.

75 deaths in one week in the Vaucluse

According to the latest ARS data published on Tuesday evening, 238 (-24) people are hospitalized in the Vaucluse, including 29 (-2) in intensive care. Side of death, we count new in 24 hours. This brings the death toll from Covid to 75 in one week, this is the highest level of mortality since the start of the crisis, according to the prefecture.

82 clusters are still active in the department. The number of tests has decreased: 7,312 since mid-November for a positivity rate which has also fallen to 13.6%. The incidence rate is now 177 cases per 100,000 population.

Several departments help out