Île-de-France is more threatened than ever by the Covid-19 pandemic. This Thursday October 8, Ile-de-France Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS – Regional Health Agency) director general Aurélien Rousseau has activated the “reinforced white plan” in all regional hospitals and clinics. Therefore, he alerts, this is a “heavy decision” meaning that hospital units will see “a very strong tide unfurl and they have to put all strength into the battle”.
Moreover, the “white plan” allows health facilities to delay some of their activities to focus the most on Covid-19 cases. The day prior to the announcement, at least 455 “covid patients” have been hospitalized in ICU, and over 40% of beds in ICU are taken by people infected by the virus. Even worse, Aurélien Rousseau already predicted on Monday October 5 on the press conference of the regional authorities that the 50%-threshold will be reached “within two weeks”.
By the way, this is not the first major alert sent by the ARS or health facilities. Back in late September, the Hôpitaux-de-Pairs (AP-HP) cancelled 20% of their surgeries in order to free beds to face the flow of new Covid patients. In concrete terms, the “reinforced white plan” enables these facilities to interim recruit or call back in staff on days off.
