Soaring virus infection puts more French cities on alert
PARIS (AP) — Two more French cities on Sunday joined Paris and Marseille and four others in maximum alert status to fight back the coronavirus, surgical strikes with strict new measures to stop the spread of infections.
The prefecture of Montpellier, in the south, announced a maximum alert status for the city and surrounding towns starting Tuesday. Measures include the closing of cafes and bars. The southwest city of Toulouse was doing likewise after a day of meetings between mayors of surrounding towns and the prefect, the local state authority, the Toulouse newspaper La Depeche reported.
Soaring infections and increased hospitalizations put four other cities on the maximum alert list on Saturday: Lyon, Grenoble and Saint-Etienne in the southeast and Lille in the north.
National health authorities reported on Saturday nearly 26,900 new daily infections in 24 hours. The count dropped to 16,100 on Sunday, but the rate of positive tests climbed to 11.5%. There were nearly 5,100 new hospitalizations over the past week, with 910 people in ICUs. As of Sunday, there were 32,730 COVID-19 deaths, but the actual number is likely higher due to deaths at home and incomplete reporting from hospitals or rest homes.
While France girded itself for a climb in critical numbers, a consultation by the National Order of Nurses published Sunday suggested that a significant number of respondents feel tired and fed up, with 37% saying the coronavirus pandemic is making them want to change jobs.
Nearly 59,400 nurses responded to the Oct. 2-7 internal survey on the impact of the health crisis on their working conditions, out of 350,000 in the Order of Nurses. A spokesman for the order, Adrien de Casabianca, described the survey as a “consultation” without the classic methodology of a poll.
The numbers suggested that French medical...