Lunchtime News Tuesday 24th March 2020
New transport measures in the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur - The PACA region and the municipalities of Nice and Cannes have adopted new measures this Tuesday to facilitate the movement of health personnel and limit those of others, who must remain confined.
In Nice, the strategy is changing this Tuesday. It's been announced that only one tram train will run every 30 minutes from Wednesday until 10 pm and no buses except those "serving health establishments, at pick-up and end of service hours".
In a press release the city adds that "Christian Estrosi decided to set up, during the period of confinement, free public transport for all those who exercise a job considered a priority in the public service. If among these people, some have a yearly subscription, the latter will be extended by a period corresponding to the duration of the crisis.
This free service will also apply to coaches and regional express trains (TER), upon presentation of their professional card or a certificate from the employer.
The mayor of Cannes announced on Monday evening a "drastic reduction in public transport service in Cannes".
As of this Tuesday, March 24, only 5 lines "which serve the sites of essential care centers and main commercial areas" will be in service, "with a departure every hour from 5 am to 9 pm, with a special service at 9:30 p.m. before curfew.
A measure decided so that the nursing staff can continue to go to their places of work and so that isolated people without personal means of transport can do their shopping.
In Cannes, drivers will also be "all provided with protective gloves and hydroalcoholic gels and will be equipped, from Tuesday 24 March, with FFP2 masks.
In several municipalities, including Nice and Cannes, taxis have offered this Monday to transport health workers free of charge.
Menton asks hotels to offer accommodation to the homeless - The city of Menton has requested that those hotels in the city capable of providing a few rooms to accommodate homeless people do so.
This is the call made to hoteliers in Menton by David Claude, the director of the CCAS in Menton (Alpes-Maritimes). Since the start of confinement, twelve homeless people (from Menton and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin) have already been relocated to a hotel in the city.
Among those who agree to be relocated, there are 19 left to shelter in Menton until the end of confinement. The objective, is to avoid using one of the local gymnasiums as much as possible. Because even if the beds respect the distance of one meter between each, it remains a confined place which would promote the circulation of the virus.
Health professionals in the region express their concerns over people gathering to be treated by chloroquine - The regional union of health professionals, liberal doctors, pharmacists and Paca medical biologists "are worried that more and more French people will go to pharmacies to get chloroquine-based medicines or queue up in front of hospitals and laboratories to try to get tested, "they said this morning in a statement.
"These behaviours are at the origin of crowds or even crowd movements which go against the sanitary confinement instructions. These are situations which dangerously and unnecessarily weaken the balance of the care system".
"If chloroquine is a ray of hope to be taken seriously in the fight against the virus, its effectiveness is currently not clinically proven. Inserm (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) announced on Sunday March 22 at the launch of a European clinical trial on 4 treatments including chloroquine. Results of studies are expected within 15 days. The only proven fact at present, is that chloroquine has no preventive effect. "
"Pending these results, the liberal doctors will not prescribe a drug based on chloroquine. The pharmacies, for their part, are not authorized to dispense without a hospital prescription. For the moment, there is no point in anyone goingto the pharmacy to get this type of medication. "
Can you get tested for Covid-19 at the moment ? - I have heard many different stories concerning the availability of testing in our region. Some saying that there are tests available in Antibes? I have also investigated myself the situation in Nice. The official information concerning the availability of testing for the virus at the moment is as follows.
As France has entered stage 3 of the management of the epidemic, and to avoid saturation of hospitals, the test is carried out only in the case of suspicion of a severe form of the disease, validated by the Samu and an infectiologist . " The test is carried out as a priority on nursing staff, people at risk and people living in nursing homes. There is currently no preventive test on asymptomatic people".
City laboratories are authorized to carry out the biological tests of Covid-19, no test is conducted without an express prescription which meets the criteria mentioned above. It is therefore unnecessary to spontaneously go to a laboratory and ask for a test.
FNAC offers a selection of 500 digital books online for free - For the past week, solidarity initiatives to support the confined population have multiplied. After Canal + programs being made available for free, or the free online shows of the Paris opera, it's Fnac's turn to make a move by also offering a selection of 500 digital books online for free.
To access your favorite classics, comics or cookbooks, it's very simple. You just need to create an account on the Fnac website, log in, select the books you want, put them in your basket and finalize the order. After that, the book in "ePu" format (which replaced the PDF) will be downloadable in the "my orders" tab.
Among the 500 references offered, there is bound to be something for everyone, children and adults, a good initiative to encourage the confined to take a break from screens.
The Total group has announced that petrol is to be made available for free to healthcare personnel - The Total group has announced that it will offer up to 50 million euros of fuel vouchers available to healthcare personnel.
More and more people are getting involved in helping caregivers who are working hard to try to stop the coronavirus epidemic. Today, it is the Total group which announced that it would make up to 50 million euros of "good fuel" available to health personnel.
The directors of hospitals are invited to contact the number 01 84 94 84 00 or the electronic address covid19@total.com in order to receive the allocations corresponding to their needs.
The Total Foundation will in addition distribute "5 million euros in favour of the Pasteur Institute, hospital associations and health associations involved in the fight against Covid-19", added the press release.
The designer of the Asterix comic strip has died - Albert Uderzo has died at the age of 92. The family of the designer of Asterix announced, Tuesday, March 24, his death at the age of 92 years. "Albert Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly from a heart attack unrelated to the coronavirus. He had been very tired for several weeks," said Bernard de Choisy, his son-in-law, to AFP.
Created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, the irreducible Gaul of the comic strip appeared on October 29, 1959 in the first issue of the weekly Pilote. For six decades and 38 adventures, the Asterix series has become a "place of memory" and part of the French identity, striving to parody the myth of "France's ancestors the Gauls".
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