In a climate of fear around the Wuhan coronavirus, the French are asking themselves various questions. Thus, the SAMU regularly responds to somewhat eccentric calls since the revelation of the first cases in France. One of the most frequently asked questions concerns the arrival of parcels from China.
To stop the spread of the coronavirus , several Chinese cities have been placed under quarantine. In Wuhan, the cradle of the epidemic, hospitals are being built in record time, while the number of infected and dead is increasing day by day. The virus has affected around fifteen countries, including France with three cases . In addition, the balance sheet as of February 27 was 107 deaths for 4,400 cases of infection.
In such a context, the French naturally ask questions. Recently, France 3 regions followed the SAMU du Nord, answering hundreds of calls every day. However, the questions people ask are sometimes inconsistent. These concern in particular packages arriving from China and meals taken in an Asian restaurant. For Éric D'Ortenzio, epidemiologist at Inserm interviewed by Le Parisien, no transmission of a virus through the contents of a package has not been recorded in the past.
Patrick Goldstein, head of the emergency department and SAMU at CHU Lille, spoke about the calls. By the way, you should know that this service responds to calls whose number is between 150 and 200 per 24 hour period . The person concerned did not hesitate to show his annoyance at the nature of the calls:
"We don't call 15 if we're expecting an Amazon package from China. We do not call 15 if we go to the Chinese restaurant. We do not call 15 if we were Gare du Nord or if we were in Lille Europe and we met people. And you don't call 15 if you're a dental surgeon and you have Chinese patients who haven't been to China for 10 years. »
In addition, Patrick Goldstein reminds us that the only calls concerning the coronavirus must be urgent. They must be people returning from China for less than 14 days and whose temperature is abnormal. In this case, it could indeed be the beginning of a fever caused by the Wuhan coronavirus.
Faced with the ignorance of the virus and the media hype around its spread, some people give in to a kind of panic. In France, some worried take pharmacies by storm to buy protective masks. Nevertheless, according to Patrick Goldstein there is no point in panicking. However, it is necessary to take some precautions:wash your hands often or not facing someone with a cold (or having a cold yourself).
Some reactions may be the result of images circulating on the current situation in Wuhan. This quarantined city of 11 million people looks like a ghost town . The authorities have paralyzed transport, made wearing a mask compulsory and the population has emptied the shops in order to stock up.
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