“May people who died of covid-19 not be forgotten”. A strong statement amid the coronavirus epidemic made by Lionel Petitpas, one of the faces of this health crisis. The man lost his wife this past March, she died of Covid-19. She was a person at risk because she had diabetes. He could not say goodbye. This is why the latter, accompanied by an association he created aiming at giving a voice to victims, has launched this past March a petition offering to set up a “national mourning day”. A petition that resurfaced today after the association’s statutes have been filed a few days ago.
It aims, beyond creating a “national mourning day”: at not forgetting and allowing many families to grieve. “My wife left in an ambulance at two in the morning, and I never saw her alive again” he explained on Europe 1, late March. Many people have experienced the same. The health conditions as for deaths and burials did not allow them to say goodbye to their family and start their mourning. “All families plunged into mourning because of coronavirus have the same feeling: they have not been able to pay tribute to their deaths” he said too. He went on: “The funeral rite allows to accompany the deceased, but it has been taken away from us”.
Where are we at today? Lionel Petitpas explains in this petition that he called out the executive, but answers were not delivered straight away: “I wrote and sent a letter to parliamentarians in Marne, MPs and senators, I have it available: 3 have answered, 1 wishes to meet with me!” it reads. Today, an appointment has been made: “I’ve got an appointment with a Marne MP on June 4th” he says.
The cause if moving forwards, but it is not enough. This homage to victims, “the country has already been able to set it up” he said to Le Parisien, speaking about the Bataclan terror attacks and all the victims of terror attacks. No comparison is possible, of course, but they cannot understand. As for the toll, it is hard to take with almost 30,000 deaths. “It is total void” he says.
