AMIENS – (asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)Moves Thursday, April 1, as virus mainbar. Photos XFM501-14 are set for release at 0700 GMT.(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) As France battles a new virus surge that many believe was avoidable, intensive care nurse Stephanie Sannier manages her stress and sorrow by climbing into her car after a 12-hour shift, blasting music and singing as loud as she can. “It allows me to breathe,” she says, “and to cry.” People with COVID-19 occupy all the beds in her ICU ward in President Emmanuel Macron’s hometown hospital in the medieval northern city of Amiens.
Three have died in the past three days. The vast medical complex is turning away critically ill patients from smaller towns nearby for lack of space.