Bruno Jarrige, head of the Covid cell at Pointe-à-Pitre hospital (Guadeloupe), explained on Franceinfo on Wednesday that the epidemic “is mounting very quickly” on the overseas island.
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“In one week, the incidence rate in Guadeloupe has increased fivefold”, deplored this Wednesday on franceinfo the doctor Bruno Jarrige, head of the Covid-19 cell of the CHU of Pointe-à-Pitre. These figures lead him to believe that the establishment of a state of emergency on the east island “completely justified”. “We are at over 1,000 new cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants.” According to him, it is all the more “difficult to work in a complete absence of serenity” that incidents took place on Tuesday, the director claiming to have been assaulted by certain unvaccinated and suspended agents.
franceinfo: In what climate are you working at the moment?
Bruno Jarrige : The social climate is very deleterious. There is a direct impact on care since the doctors, the paramedics who work, the 95% of the agents who are not suspended, have great difficulty in working because the atmosphere is very degraded with a peak [mardi] evening [lors de l’agression du directeur de l’hôpital par des salariés de l’hôpital]. Especially since the fifth wave begins with us. It will be difficult to work in a complete absence of serenity.
The state of health emergency has also just been declared. Is this justified in your opinion?
It is completely justified. In one week, the incidence rate of Guadeloupe has multiplied by five. Currently, there are more than 1,000 new cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants. It is a little out of step with the metropolis but it goes up very quickly and we are very worried with a soaring absenteeism. It is difficult to cover the different services. As the metropolis is also in difficulty, caregivers will not be able to come and help us as they did during the fourth wave. This will force us to deprogram care for the usual patients: cancer patients, operated on, diabetics, obese – which are numerous in Guadeloupe … Especially since our population is only vaccinated at 35%, and barely at 10% for the third dose.
You no longer manage to convince the population to be vaccinated?
From the start, we have never missed doses in Guadeloupe. We have many vaccination centers and therefore no obstacle to vaccination. But things are changing a bit. In recent days, Guadeloupeans have returned to vaccination. But since we have a lot of delay, it will take a lot of days to catch up.