Every day, Le Parisien takes action to answer your questions about the coronavirus. Today we are interested in the questioning of Françoise, who wonders what is the advantage of confinement if France is the only one to practice it or if the borders remain open.
If a neighboring country did not apply containment measures, it would of course be much more likely that a person on its soil would fall ill. Moreover, on March 17, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had judged that France "would have difficulty accepting British nationals" without containment measures in the United Kingdom.
Containment measures for our neighbors too
On March 20, Emmanuel Macron then threatened to close the border with the United Kingdom for this reason, reports Liberation. On the same day, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally called for the closure of pubs, restaurants and cinemas. Three days later, he decided to set up confinement comparable to those already in force in France, Germany and Italy.
At the end of March, almost all of our big neighbors had implemented strict confinement and a ban on leaving the house, except in a few specific cases with a travel certificate. This is the case in Spain, Italy, Belgium and therefore in the United Kingdom. In Germany there are important social distancing measures in progress and the authorities recommend not to leave your accommodation, but this is not strictly speaking confinement and the inhabitants do not need to fill out an exit certificate.
"Effective when the threat is still far away"
Moreover, the Franco-German border has been subject to important controls since March 16. "As part of the containment of populations, unnecessary trips and trips are [no longer] allowed," says the website of the embassy in Berlin.
If people arrive in France from a more distant country, they will have to respect confinement, like all the inhabitants.
Closing borders can, however, have a health interest before the virus is present and circulates in the country in question. In other words, it is "an effective barrier measure when the threat is still distant", explained to us on March 16 Jeanne Brugère-Picoux, member of the National Academy of Medicine. "Today, it is too late since the virus is on each side of the border," she added.
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