To date, unlike what happened with H1N1 in 2009, many of us healthcare workers have not received our endowment of FFP2 masks needed to treat patients. While the state had two months to build up reserves of these much-needed protections, it seems it has done nothing.
A practitioner explains: "Not shaking hands with our patients is insufficient, will not protect us from contamination by air, it should be understood that the shortage of FFP2 masks can quickly lead to the shortage of caregivers, by their quarantine, with the consequences that this implies. ".
Obviously, the budgetary choices have been made, on the one hand, the State have enough budget for organizing summits, meetings and even a State National Security Council, intended to divert and deceive the people, on the other, the State leaves health workers unprotected.
SHORTAGE OF FFP2 MASKS and PHASE 3 OF THE #CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC
As we indicated last Saturday, the stocks essential for the protection of workers do not exist, Health Ministers Buzyn and Veran lied to us and are still lying to us. The few million masks that will be distributed are surgical masks that do not protect against contamination.
The transition to Phase 3 is the referral of coronavirus patients out of the hospital that will be overwhelmed towards the city. Doctors and nurses will have to work unprotected with hypercontagious patients, the right to opt-out is ethically impossible for them.
To the politicians who run the administrations, who lay down standards that are as absurd as they are useless, we have only one word to say: Bastards ! On the other hand, the stocks of rubber bullets and grenades, that have been used by thousands against the Yellow vests, are full …. On June 16, 2019, the French government was able to anticipate with sufficient time to order 25 million assault rifle cartridges and 40,000 anti-riots grenades, to be delivered for early 2020. Obviously, the State does not have the same priorities as the population
Other workers in public transport, hypermarkets, etc. must ask their employers for fully-paid hourly breaks to wash their hands, hydroalcoholic gel if necessary, and adequate masks or otherwise exercise their right to opt-out.
RIGHT TO OPT-OUT
The absence of collective or individual protective equipment legitimizes the recourse to the right of employees to opt-out : Article L4131-1 of the French labor code stipulates that
"The worker immediately alerts the employer to any work situation which he has reasonable grounds to believe presents a serious and imminent danger to his life or health and to any defect which he finds in the protection systems. He can withdraw from such a situation.
The employer may not ask the worker, who has made use of his right of withdrawal, to resume his activity in a work situation where a serious and imminent danger persists, resulting in particular from a defective protection system. "
CNT-AIT Health care workers