Ma guerre du Covid: Journal d’une urgentiste alsacienne

In Ma guerre du Covid: Journal d’une urgentiste alsacienne (My COVID War: Diary of an Alsatian Emergency Doctor in the Coronavirus Crisis), Claudia Chatelus, a medical doctor and an expert in disaster medicine and crisis management, reflects on her experience working in Alsace, the first French region to be hit by the coronavirus during Europe’s initial wave with first cases documented by 26 February 2020. Despite the lack of coordination at both regional and national levels, Chatelus praises the remarkable mobilization of medical professionals that prevented the collapse of emergency services. However, she highlights the flawed response to COVID, which caught France off guard despite ample warning from Italian healthcare workers. The pre-pandemic issues in the French medical system, including budget cuts leading to reduced hospital beds and a shortage of general practitioners, further exacerbate the burden on emergency care. Chatelus juxtaposes her passion for emergency healthcare with the glaring flaws in the system, which were magnified by the pandemic and weakened institutional support due to years of cost-cutting and unresolved system issues. Nevertheless, she emphasizes the importance of supporting healthcare workers and credits their labor actions in her region for mitigating the severity of the pandemic compared to other areas with less success. By demonstrating the impact of budget cuts on crisis responses, she advocates for healthcare workers to fight for a better healthcare system in France through the labor movement.