A young woman detained at the Cornebarrieu CRA near Toulouse, has tested positive for Covid-19. A screening campaign has since been launched, while some associations are alarmed.
Near Toulouse, a young woman detained at the administrative detention centre (CRA) of Cornebarrieu (Haute-Garonne) has tested positive for Covid-19. A situation that worries several associations, which demand the closure of the centre.
“The concerns are strong”
Tested positive Thursday, August 13, the young woman in question was released before the arrival of the results … Since then, the authorities have tried to locate her in order to take charge of her. In addition, a test campaign was launched at the end of the week with those detained, staff of associations and officials who work at the Cornebarrieu CRA in order to identify whether other people have contracted Covid-19.
“To date, it is not possible to know the extent of the contagion, tests are underway. However, concerns are strong among the detainees, several questions the relevance of being tested if new people potentially carrying the virus enter the CRA again ”, indicates Monday 17th August 2020 the Cimade, an association which supports foreigners in the procedure of expulsion.
The association continues:
The women’s sector has been quarantined , the detainees must take their meals in their sector. For men, any detainee leaving the area must wear a mask and wash their hands. Visits are suspended until further notice.
Screening campaign
The Regional Health Agency (ARS) Occitanie indicates that it has organized “ a screening campaign for all 86 staff and the 44 selected present at the same time as this person. The screening will also be offered to the various stakeholders present at the CRA (OFII, CIMADE, cleaning company, SSIAP, etc.). Some tests have already been carried out but the general screening campaign will be deployed by the SDIS and the CHU on Tuesday 18th August”.
The ARS specifies that “among the 86 personnel to be screened, 13 police officers are subject to a fortnight ” and adds that “the ARC continues to operate by adapting its organization (management of flows between the different sectors, means of protection, hearing with the courts in video) ”.
Associations demand the closure of the centre
But for La Cimade, while around forty undocumented people are held at the Cornebarrieu CRA, “the conditions of confinement do not allow full respect for the barrier gestures and endanger foreign persons deprived of their liberty in administrative detention. “. The association demands with ADE the closure of the administrative detention centre, “the only way to combine the preservation of the fundamental freedoms of those detained with the constitutional imperative of public health”
“Keeping the CRAs open is nonsense insofar as we keep people detained who cannot be returned to the border because of the health context. So why keep them? Asks Léo Claus, coordinator of the Cimade in Cornebarrieu.
