“We are at a new stage in the epidemic: that of its spread.
We are gradually losing track of new contaminations.
There is probably little time left to act collectively ”.
The alert was very officially launched by six doctors in a column published in the Journal du Dimanche.
Their main concern is with private gatherings.
Family reunions, evenings with friends which, according to the figures provided each week by Public Health France, constitute the second place for training clusters in the country.
According to the latest statistics available, 15% of the 1583 clusters identified between May 9 and September 7 were formed during public or private events temporarily bringing together people.
And 11% declared themselves within the framework of the “extended family environment”.
That is to say more than 400 clusters in total in four months.
The house, "last bastion of freedom"
"The family context actually favors the spread of the epidemic," confirms Mircea T. Sofonea, lecturer in epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Montpellier (Hérault).
We are talking about events that bring more people together in a closed environment, which tend to speak louder.
The house is seen in a way as the last bastion of freedom in this epidemic period.
"
Elsewhere in Europe, countries have decided to tighten the screw.
As of Monday, gatherings of more than six people from different homes have been banned in the UK.
The city of Birmingham has gone further by banning all meetings with friends or families.
The inhabitants of the city will still be able to go to bars or restaurants, on condition, therefore, of not being more than six.
The situation in the city worries the authorities.
Birmingham has the third highest infection rate in England, behind Bolton and Sunderland.
The incidence rate (new infections recorded in 24 hours per 100,000 inhabitants) climbed to 78.2.
Could such a decision be taken in France?
The measure had indeed been considered by the executive as soon as it came out of confinement.
At the end of April, the government initially decided to ban gatherings of more than ten people.
In front of the national representation, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced the ban on "gatherings organized on the public highway or in private places of more than ten people".
But on May 11, the Constitutional Council slowed down the ardor of the executive.
In an opinion, the Wise Men reaffirmed a principle which now seems impossible to question: "The measures relating to establishments open to the public and to meeting places [...] do not extend to premises for residential use".
In its decrees, the government had therefore decided to exclude any mention of premises for residential use, content to limit meetings in public places.
"Hammer our messages"
“We are on a question of legal balance, analyzes the constitutional expert Didier Maus.
On the one hand, the constitutional principle of public health, which authorizes the taking of drastic measures.
On the other hand, the principles of individual liberty and inviolability of the home, which are just as important.
"So important that the constitutional expert considers today" impossible "to limit in France the private meetings organized at home.
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
The government is well aware of this.
“We can limit public gatherings according to the needs of the department, by prefectural route.
With regard to private gatherings, the principle of freedom of assembly applies, we recall in the entourage of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.
This is a constitutional safeguard that we should not be upset about.
"For meetings at home, the government therefore has only one weapon:" Hammer our messages so that the French apply the barrier gestures at home as well. "
The government has also decided to communicate more on the risks of these private meetings.
This weekend, a new advertising spot was broadcast on television screens, illustrating the contamination of an elderly person within the family sphere.
READ ALSO>
Birthdays, weddings ... when the coronavirus plays the spoiler
Finally, there remains the subject of weddings and other private ceremonies which, this time, would not be organized at home.
Can we, as the president of the PACA region wishes, supervise them to avoid promoting the spread of the virus?
Almost all of the weddings planned between March and August 2020 have finally been postponed.
Only considerations of urgency were opposed to the principle of postponing the ceremonies.
From now on, the authorities are calling on the French to postpone or avoid weddings that would bring together too many guests.
And as regards the festivities organized in a village hall, the prefect of the department is perfectly justified in closing certain categories of establishments open to the public, by virtue of the decrees of July 10, "prescribing the general measures necessary to deal with to the Covid-19 epidemic in territories that have emerged from the state of health emergency and in those where it has been extended ”.
Called on Friday by the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, to make proposals to stem the spread of the virus on her territory, the prefect of Nouvelle-Aquitaine has also limited her new arrangements on Monday to events organized outside.
Regarding private gatherings, the prefect had to be content "to solemnly call" Bordeaux residents not to organize private events of more than ten people, including weddings.
