France delays opening of museums, cinemas and theaters and tightens curfew

Celebrate Christmas Eve with family, yes.

New Year's Eve with friends, no.

Tighter curfew.

And museums, cinemas and theaters will remain closed.

The national lockdown will end on December 15 in France, but the de-escalation will be slower than expected.

The country has not managed to reduce the pandemic figures to the level it wanted, which have stabilized at still too high rates, and therefore the Government has decided to maintain some restrictions and tighten the conditions for leaving the second confinement, as announced by this Thursday the Prime Minister, Jean Castex.

"We have not reached the end of this second wave and on December 15 we will not have achieved the set goal of passing less than 5,000 infections a day," Castex explained at a press conference in Paris.

"The game is far from being won (...) we must adapt the planned measures", he summarized.

According to the map drawn up by the president, Emmanuel Macron, as of next Tuesday the French should breathe a little more freely.

And they will, but not as much as they hoped.

It is true that it will no longer be necessary to sign an affidavit every time one steps on the street - something that has barely been controlled in this second confinement anyway - and that the French will be able to go on vacation to other parts of the country, since eliminates the limit of 20 kilometers of distance for a maximum of three hours in force until now.

But the departures will be more limited than initially planned: thus, the curfew that will replace the confinement will take effect one hour earlier than planned, starting at 8:00 p.m., and will last until 6 a.m.

In addition, it will only be raised on Christmas Eve, but not on New Year's Eve, which "will have to be celebrated at home", said Castex.

The head of government has recognized that it would also be "advisable" to stay at home on December 24, but has indicated that a gesture is made in view of the tradition of this family festival.

However, it has reiterated the "recommendation" not to gather more than six adults per household and has added the advice that, if the meeting is expected to have an elderly or "vulnerable" person, limit contacts as much as possible social five days before the appointment.

But the main blow is taken by the cultural sector.

Plans for cinemas, theaters and museums to reopen next week are being ruined, as they will have to remain closed for at least another three weeks.

Only as of January 7 will the situation be reviewed, Castex has said of an order to extend the closure of establishments that will also affect stadiums, zoos or casinos, among others.

Nor will places of worship be able to increase their current capacity, since the current restrictions that imply leaving two free spaces per person or family group and occupying only one of every two rows will be maintained.

Bars and restaurants will in any case remain closed at least until January 20, as the Government had advanced when revealing, at the end of November, the de-escalation plan now revised downwards.

The original plan was based on the premise that, by December 15, infections would stabilize below 5,000 daily cases, a figure from which France estimates that it can both reduce hospital tension and break the chain of infections without need for harsh measures such as lockdown or curfew.

Except for a few days, this objective has never been reached on average and the rate in the last week seems to stabilize between 12,000 and 14,000 new cases daily.

Although, together with Spain, France is currently among the European countries with the lowest incidence rate -108.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest official figures-, the Government does not dare to lower its guard, especially in the face of Christmas parties that will provoke more meetings which, together with the low temperatures, is expected to increase the cases again.

The sharp upturn in cases in the United States and Canada after the Thanksgiving holiday has served as a catalyst for not opening the hand too much, has recognized the political leader of a country that has already suffered more than 56,000 deaths from coronavirus and is still hospitalized to more than 25,000 for covid-19.

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