Elderly lost out in race
PARIS — In late February, as the COVID-19 pandemic was about to hit, French President Emmanuel Macron faced a critical decision. Like most countries, France did not have enough protective face masks.
His response was to intervene. By decree, his government put the state in control of all stocks of masks on French territory. Officials were to distribute them to frontline healthcare workers.
Macron’s far-reaching step was unique among major European states. The decree eventually helped channel protective equipment to those most at risk, such as the elderly and people with underlying chronic health conditions, people in the sector told Reuters.
But for some, including hundreds of France’s retirement homes, it meant that mask deliveries from private suppliers failed to arrive as expected. As a result, homes with low stocks operated for around 10 days without supplies, a Reuters examination found.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has triggered a global shortage of protective equipment; some world leaders now face criticism for not doing enough in the face of the epidemic.
The experience in France underscores how, confronted with the deadly new virus and sparse resources with which to tackle it, even governments that have acted forcefully can face limits and unintended consequences to their interventions.
Thirty minutes’ drive from the centre of Paris, the stateowned Emile Gerard retirement home had placed orders with its usual suppliers for 1,700 protective masks in late February and early March for the 240-bed facility, said interim manager Elsa Nicoise.
Those orders went unfulfilled. Her two suppliers told Nicoise that the equipment she ordered had been requisitioned by the government, she said.
With only meagre stocks in reserve, she had to ration masks. “We handed them out parsimoniously,” said Nicoise. Seven residents have died with the virus. At least seven staff have tested positive for COVID-19.
Emile Gerard was one of many homes affected. The requisition decree disrupted supplies of tens of thousands of masks to retirement homes - which in total accommodate around 1 million residents just as the virus was starting to spread among the vulnerable and elderly. That conclusion is based on interviews with four medical supplies distribution firms whose customers include more than 4,000 medical establishments, two nursing home industry representatives, two nursing home bosses, and a trade union official.
The government never physically requisitioned stocks of masks, but producers and suppliers who wanted to avoid violating the decree stopped shipping them to customers. Most didn’t resume regular deliveries until late March.
Reuters found no evidence of a direct link between the requisition policy and the deaths of any particular nursing home residents. People in the French nursing home sector say their protective equipment supplies are now adequate.