Philippe knows it.
He was "borderline", as he puts it himself.
Tested positive for Covid-19, he did not fully respect the seven-day isolation period.
“I hardly had any symptoms, apart from a slight fever which only lasted one afternoon, this 38-year-old single man, logistics manager in mass distribution, tries to apologize.
I admit that after six days alone at home, I couldn't resist a friend's invitation to go for a drink in a bar.
A small aperitif, it's okay, if we are careful?
"
Insulate yourself so as not to contaminate others.
This measure, in effect since February, has evolved over the months.
First set at 14 days minimum, the period then called "fortnight" was reduced to seven days at the beginning of September.
This shortening should have made it more acceptable and easier to apply.
It is not so.
It must be said that in France, we do not incur any sanction to leave our home when we are sick or positive without symptoms.
Some want to avoid a work stoppage
Could this change?
Should we put in place controls?
"The government's philosophy is accountability and trust", replied the Minister of Health Olivier Véran a few days ago, while acknowledging the appearance of cases grouped in companies linked to the fact that "some people, although they know they are positive, but asymptomatic, had made the choice to return to work anyway ”.
It is impossible to say how many are free from this rule.
But testimonials, on condition of anonymity, are not hard to find.
There are those who, like Philippe, cannot bear to cut all social ties.
Others put forward financial reasons.
Surveys by Le Parisien - Today in France have, for example, shown that some taxi or VTC drivers continue to work, even when they are sick, so as not to lose money.
Ditto for these SNCF controllers who also refuse to stop so as not to lose the variable part of their remuneration.
All recognize that the absence of sanction does not encourage them to be "reasonable".
Aurélie, who tested positive in mid-October after being infected during her sister's marriage, knows something about it.
“We had followed the instructions on the guests to the letter, only fifteen and all masked at the town hall, then twenty-two for the evening party in a private floor of a restaurant.
But that was not enough, recalls this consultant in the luxury industry.
Seventeen people tested positive in the days that followed.
I immediately isolated myself and was very careful not to infect my 2 year old daughter and my husband.
"On the other hand, she notes," we were very few, only three or four, to agree to be identified by Health Insurance as part of the search for contact cases.
Some explained in particular that it was because of their work.
It was impossible for them not to go to the office while they were still on probation ... "
Introduce a fine of 10,000 euros?
Faced with this behavior, politicians, but also doctors, are therefore pushing for more coercion.
Members of the Agir ensemble group, made up in particular of parliamentarians from LREM, propose to "make self-isolation a legal obligation" with home checks and, for offenders, a fine of 10,000 euros.
The introduction of such measures has not yet convinced the executive.
"The countries which have put in place sanction measures for those who did not respect isolation when they were sick are facing the same wave as us", sweeps Olivier Véran.
READ ALSO>
Covid-19: fines, prison ... how our neighbors sanction non-compliance with isolation
For Philippe Juvin, the reinforced control strategy, associated with a massive campaign of tests, is nevertheless the right one.
The head of emergencies at the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris, also mayor (LR) of La Garenne-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), also calls for “an isolation policy”, because “it is useless to test someone if you tell them:
You are positive, you are going to isolate yourself at home with your wife, your husband, your children…
If it is to infect everyone, it is not isolation.
»His solution?
Whether patients are offered hotel rooms en masse or, for people who live alone, logistics so that they do not have to leave their homes.
