Martinique University Hospital (CHUM) activated the white plan again Friday, a month after it was lifted due to the resurgence in the Covid-19 disease on this Caribbean island. The CHUM management stated in an internal memo that the white plan and related provisions were reactivated today.
According to the CHUM, "The influx in patients at the emergency room", the rise of the Covid epidemic and "operating problems" justifies the reactivation this mobilization and organization device for the hospital.
Jerome Le Briere (director of Martinique University Hospital) said, "The white plan" on the radio RCI. He said, "What is most important to me is to sanctuarize holidays to come for team which are already tired." He explained that the management of Martinique's public hospital wants to "as much possible not deprogram medical surgical procedures". In the next weeks, medical support could be strengthened by the CHU, especially through recruitment.
Martinique has seen a reversal in the Covid-19 epidemic. 7924 cases of Covid-19 were reported during the week from May 30 through June 5. Comparatively, 2 022 positive cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the week from April 25 to May 1. This was just a few days prior to the lifting of white plans. From July 12, 2021, to May 4, 2022, the white plan was in force on the island. 35 patients with Covid-19 were admitted to the CHUM during the first week in June. Fourteen of them were in critical care/resuscitation.
Sante Publique France's weekly bulletin states that Martinique has confirmed the installation of an Omicron sub-lineage. Professor Andre Cabie of the CHUM's infectious diseases department, said that this virus mutation "is more easily transmitted than the first."
943 deaths have been reported by Martinique University Hospital in this island, where only 45.4% has a complete vaccine schedule.
