COVID-19 Risks Prompt Call to Protect Elderly Migrant Workers in French Housing

The president of the CFCM, Mohammed Moussaoui, wrote to the director of the Reception, Support for Foreigners and Nationality, Agnès Fontana, to alert her to the risks related to covid-19 to which the residents, especially the chibanis of the FTM, are exposed. He insisted on the need to "avoid as much as possible the risk of contamination of the residents by detecting positive people as quickly as possible through extensive diagnostic testing by RT-PCR, according to the rapid investigation methods proposed as soon as the confinement is lifted, and by immediate isolation of confirmed covid-19 cases by these tests."

"Also, it seems necessary to proceed with the screening of these residents as quickly and completely as possible, as they are particularly fragile, precarious and exposed populations," he says, adding that "the fact that they live several together with common kitchens and sanitary facilities, is not conducive to physical distancing." Based on this observation, Mohammed Moussaoui proposes that the most vulnerable among them be housed in hotels or holiday villages to limit the spread of the virus.

"The idea of sheltering the ’chibanis’ in hotels or holiday residences, as part of the measures currently being implemented, following the Prime Minister’s speech, is excellent and we are examining it," responds the director of the Reception, Support for Foreigners and Nationality.

Similarly, Agnès Fontana announced that the residents of the FTM, as well as the employees and volunteers who work with them, "are identified as a priority for testing and the benefit of masks, just like the residents of nursing homes; which is a first step forward."