Day of liberation for some, synonymous with anguish for others: the end of the mask in public transport endangers the lives of immunocompromised patients: transplant recipients, dialysis patients, transplant recipients, patients with certain cancers or taking treatments that weaken their immune system.
They are between 230,000 and 300,000 in France. Very at risk from the virus, it is estimated that they represent 40% of people in intensive care. Europe 1 questioned immunocompromised people to find out how they feel about this measure.
Redouble your vigilance
For Stéphane, the return to normal life will not happen immediately. Kidney transplant two years ago, he has already received four doses of vaccines. But the protection is weak and does not last so this Lyonnais will have to be extra vigilant against passengers without masks.
“Today, for example, when I book a TGV ticket, I take an isolated place to be sure that I don’t have someone around me who is too close and I keep my FFP2 mask on from the entrance to the station to the exit because we can be next to you, if you have the Covid and you don’t even know that we are at risk, but we can die of it”, he explains at the microphone of Europe 1.
20% risk of dying from covid
If he contracts the Covid, Stéphane has a 20% risk of dying. It’s more than one person in Ehpad. So to protect the immunocompromised, Renaloo, an association of patients with kidney disease calls on the French to show solidarity.
“Everyone is tired of this epidemic, but at the same time wearing a mask does not seem like an inconsiderate sacrifice to me if it is a question of preserving the health of fragile people, and saving their lives”, explains Ivanie Caillé, founder of the Renaloo association.
If this call to keep the mask is not heard, nearly 300,000 immunocompromised French people risk living each trip in anguish.