“People no longer wash their hands”, deplore the pediatric emergencies of the Toulouse University Hospital
Through Quentin Marais
Published on
The pediatric emergency department of the Toulouse University Hospital faces several winter viral pathologies. Isabelle Claudet, the chef, points to a problem related to the end of certain gestures that were kings at a time when covid-19 was in full swing …
” Wash one’s hands ? People abandoned him… ”
200 to 240 passages per day, an increase in volume of 35%: the pediatric emergency department of the Toulouse University Hospital “Is saturated”, according to the words of his boss. This situation happens “Eight weeks” before the usual waypoint.
If this scourge is explained by the fact that children find themselves confronted with viruses that they have not faced, barrier and containment measures oblige, Isabelle Claudet underlines a much deeper problem.
The return to school and the abandonment of the mask among the little ones meant that, quite naturally, everyone has, again, small illnesses as we have in winter. But there are plenty of gastros in adults. This fact is proof that people no longer wash their hands. That they gave up …
“There are a lot of sick adults, you just have to look around. I only see sick people right now, who have a cold, ”remarks the head of the Children Department.
She notes a similar trend with hydroalcoholic gel. ” One year ago, we would have showered with it. There, nobody buys any more. The masks, they are put askew, a blow under the nose, a blow under the chin… ”
“I think we’re going to suffer”
Isabelle Claudet recognizes this: “It’s understandable, people need freedom. They know that there are some who are vaccinated ”. But efforts appear to be waning as viruses gain traction. “The covid likes these temperatures who are in favor of its resumption. ”
Has the hygienic lesson of these 20 months of epidemic already been forgotten? “I don’t know if we can talk about a lesson, but rather instructions that worked well, like, again, washing your hands. ”
We realized that we had not had a single gastroenteritis that entered our pediatric units for a year and a half. Or very little… This is proof that by applying simple, basic, daily hygiene actions, we manage to transform things.
The wearing of the mask has also dictated the past two years. But for Isabelle Claudet, “ hiding the little ones doesn’t make sense because you have a boomerang effect at the end. Anything that you don’t have at a given moment, you take back in the pear, multiplied by five, six ”.
“This is what we live”, continues the head of the pediatric emergency department, confronted with an influx of cases of bronchiolitis in particular. “We expected a stronger epidemic, but not for it to start so soon. »She ends with strong words:« I think we are going to suffer. But we all said it to each other… ”
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