"Really Tired": New Covid Wave Overburdens France's Hospitals, Again

Covid In France: France's Scientific Council said in a report that the healthcare system "has been rendered fragile after this long period of COVID, where it has been constantly in the front line."

Doctor Ruxandra Divan, an intensive care anaesthetist in eastern France, slumped down onto her haunches against a wall of her department, exhausted by the prospect of tackling a new COVID-19 wave with a depleted staff.

"It's the tiredness," said Divan on Wednesday, mid-way through her shift at the Colmar Hospital, near France's border with Germany and Switzerland. "People are fed up of dealing with patients who aren't vaccinated. We are really tired."

Healthcare systems across Europe are facing up to more COVID-19 admissions, with infection rates accelerating, and the added uncertainty of how the new Omicron variant will affect public health.

In the city of Colmar, the task is made harder because the teams who must tackle the new wave are depleted by large numbers on sick leave, by people quitting, and by the low morale of those who remain.