Almost at the same time, an easing in France and a hardening on the other side of the Rhine.
On Wednesday, the day after Emmanuel Macron's speech unveiling the timetable for progressive deconfinement, Angela Merkel announced that the measures that entered into force on November 2 in Germany will remain so until January.
The arsenal will also be tightened since the gauge in the department stores will pass to a customer for 20 m², against one for 10 m² until then.
"We still have to make efforts", hammered the German Chancellor.
Conversely, in France, the first reductions will come into force this Saturday.
All businesses can reopen with a customer for a maximum of 8m², while places of worship can accommodate up to 30 worshipers.
In England, non-essential stores will also be able to reopen in early December.
A number of new cases stable for 20 days
These differences between neighboring countries do not surprise epidemiologist Antoine Flahault, who daily examines the health situation in many countries around the world.
“Germany has just broken its epidemic curve, but they have not yet regained complete control,” he points out.
This can be seen on the graphs of new cases and mortality.
The country has around 18,000 positive people every 24 hours, a figure that has been roughly stable for about twenty days.
This number "is still at a much too high level," said Angela Merkel Wednesday evening.
Relative to the population, it is almost as much as in France.
With the big difference that this figure was divided by three in two and a half weeks on this side of the border thanks to the "efforts" of the French, congratulated Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday.
"The number of reproduction R [the average number of people that an infected individual will contaminate, Editor's note] is 0.98 in Germany and 0.61 in France, so the curve is not yet lower. However, they cannot allow yourself to stay too long at this plateau and the faster to get out of it the better, ”points out Antoine Flahault.
“The numbers are still too high.
Even if the rise in infections has generally slowed down, there is not really a reversal of the curve as in other countries ”, underlines Thomas, a salesman who lives in Düsseldorf.
"From the start, a less brutal strategy"
If we now observe mortality, the number of daily deaths continues to increase in Germany (410 in 24 hours Wednesday, or 236 per day on average over the past week).
By comparing this figure to the number of inhabitants, it is three times less than in France… where the curve has already been downward for several days.
This is not surprising since there is usually a three to four week delay between contaminations and deaths.
“From the start, Germany has adopted a less brutal strategy than its neighbors in terms of restrictions: shops have never been closed (apart from bars, restaurants, gyms) and the wearing of masks has been compulsory. later than in other countries.
Perhaps this explains why the results are less satisfactory than elsewhere, since the confinement has been less severe, ”notes Thomas.
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“We are not really confined and some allow themselves to deviate from what is requested.
I think the government still wishes to leave everything open (except restaurants, bars, cinemas, etc.) but by making sure to limit contact as much as possible ”, adds Vincent, another thirty-something who lives in Essen, in the northwest of the country.
Germany wants to ban winter sports
In Germany, the decision is all the more complicated to take as each Land is, in theory, competent in matters of public health.
On Wednesday, the Chancellor therefore had to negotiate at length (for more than seven hours!) With the leaders of the regions in the north of the country, less affected currently, to make them accept such severe restrictions.
She also advised against going on vacation abroad and called for European cooperation to ban winter sports until January 10.
“I'll be honest with you, it probably won't be easy, but we'll try,” she admitted at the same time, as neighboring Switzerland and Austria intend to allow access to their tracks.
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Still, some freedoms will remain permitted in Germany compared to France during the first days of December.
There is, for example, no limit of distance or duration when leaving home.
On this side of the Rhine, it will be limited to 20 km from his home and for three hours from Saturday.
