A tenuous but palpable hope.
This is what Olivier Véran hinted at this Thursday during his situation update.
According to the Minister of Health, the decision to close restaurants which hovers above Paris and its inner suburbs as well as 10 other cities (Lyon, Nice, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Saint-Étienne, Rennes, Rouen, Grenoble and Montpellier) placed on enhanced alert, could be avoided.
And this, if measures
"sufficiently robust, protective and controllable"
are found to avoid any contamination in these establishments.
Read also: Why do French restaurateurs not keep a reminder book to trace the virus?
These proposals were made by representatives of the restaurant industry to the Prime Minister.
They consist of a reminder book: customers leave their name and phone number before entering the establishment in order to be able to be warned if another customer, who was present on the day of their arrival, is declared positive for the coronavirus or case contact.
It can also be considered for restaurants to accept customers only by reservation with, in the same way, the contact details of the people present left at the establishment, specifies Hubert Jan, national president of the catering branch of the Union des Industry and Hotel trades (Umih).
Second proposition, superimposable on the first, taking the temperature as a condition for entering the establishment.
It now remains for the government to study these solutions in order to allow restaurants located in high alert zones - involving the closure of these establishments -
"to remain fully or partially open but with reinforced rules"
.
There is therefore hope, all the more so for the capital and its inner suburbs could pass into the maximum alert zone "from Monday", warned the Minister of Health.
"First consultation"
Even in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, already under the blow of this sanction, a reopening could be considered, said Olivier Véran while taking care to remain cautious.
Since the total closure of bars and restaurants last Saturday, anger has continued to mount in the metropolis.
This Wednesday, the administrative court of Marseille rejected the appeal of the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte D'Azur region, Renaud Muselier, and representatives of the sector, demanding the suspension of the prefectural decree.
The latter do not admit defeat and from tomorrow lodge an appeal with the Council of State.
Unions as elected officials criticize the government for not having consulted them.
A message that Olivier Véran seems to have taken into account.
“This is the first time that I hear of a consultation.
That would mean that the minister would have heard us, ”
suggests Hubert Jan, cautious.
Bernard Marty, PACA representative of Umih is also in expectation.
A videoconference between the unions and the Minister of Health and the Minister for SMEs, Alain Griset, is scheduled for Friday at noon in order to discuss the proposals made and in which Bernard Marty wants to believe.
“We must stop believing that people did not understand that a virus was circulating.
I think they are reasonable and you have to trust them, ”he
says.