Containment takes hold over time, Macron surrounds himself with experts

The confinement continued, the President of the Republic surrounded himself with a new committee of experts. Expected since last Saturday and the announcements of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, the Scientific Council has just given a fourth opinion dated March 23, but published on 24 at 6 p.m. (on the sly) on the website of the Ministry of health. For the first time, the Council is clearly positioning itself on extending the confinement by at least 4 weeks, bringing the total minimum duration to 6 weeks. Which brings us to April 28. While recalling that it is still impossible to judge the impact of the measure after only one week of application.

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“The epidemiological effects of containment can only be observed from a period of two to three weeks from its implementation. Three weeks after the start of containment are therefore necessary to obtain a first estimate of its impact, ”it is written in the report. Also expected on the conditions of confinement, the council recommends the measures announced by the Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe last night on TF1. However, scientists do not close the door to tougher conditions (end of city transport, work in the company, etc.) if the strict application of the confinement procedures as defined were not respected.

It is in this context that the Elysée Palace announced Tuesday morning the creation of a new advisory committee to the Head of State to tackle the coronavirus crisis. Emmanuel Macron already relied on the scientific committee for his political decision-making, here he will now be surrounded by the "research analysis and expertise committee" to advise the government on treatments and tests against the coronavirus. Composed of twelve researchers and doctors, this body aims to advise the government on treatments and tests against the coronavirus. Above all, it allows Emmanuel Macron to close a blind spot. The one left by the Scientific Council on the practical side of the fight against the coronavirus.

By focusing too much on the overall strategy to be adopted, the executive found itself entangled in several collateral controversies: the deployment or not of a population testing policy on the one hand, the use or not of chloroquine to treat the sick on the other hand. " Above all, this allows the Medicines Agency to be short-circuited and to go faster, " observes a knowledgeable expert in the medical community.

Today I bring together our best researchers to progress on diagnostics and treatments. Our research effort is fully mobilized in the fight against Covid-19

Another potential controversy to come, that which promises to be able to follow the movements of carriers of the virus from their mobile phones to verify that they remain well confined to their homes or to identify potential outbreaks. A solution that the government is currently studying but which raises a gigantic question on public freedoms. Set up in Singapore, the system has significantly slowed the spread of the virus. In France, where video surveillance provokes regular debates, the opinion of a committee of recognized experts is necessary to set up surveillance of patients by smartphones.

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According to the Élysée Palace, the objective of the new committee will thus be to “advise the government with regard to the programs and doctrine relating to treatments, tests and backtracking practices which make it possible to identify people in contact with those infected with the Covid-19 virus ”. Installed in the presence of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Minister of Health Olivier Véran and Minister of Research Frédérique Vidal, the Care will be chaired by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, virologist at the Pasteur / Inserm Institute, 2008 Nobel Prize for discovery of the AIDS virus. “ It is thanks to science and medicine that we will defeat the virus. Today I bring together our best researchers to progress on diagnostics and treatments. Our research effort is fully mobilized in the fight against Covid-19 ", explained Emmanuel Macron on his Twitter account.

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With these two bodies, the President of the Republic therefore finds himself bordered on both the strategic and operational aspects of the coronavirus crisis. Belts and suspenders in a way. “ In this crisis, the president decides and acts according to the information provided to him. That does not mean that we entered the government of the experts, the French did not elect a scientific committee, underlines a close relation of the president . But you have to show them the ground of rationality in which he draws expertise . ”