A new strategy is emerging, that of "case by case", guided by the scale of the epidemic from one department to another.
But until when?
After Nice, it is the turn of Dunkirk and its surroundings, where the situation is deemed "alarming" by the Minister of Health, to find themselves confined from this weekend.
Every week, one inhabitant in 100 falls ill, the hospital is so under pressure that 61 patient transfers have been organized since February 1 and in the wards, caregivers no longer speak of a "wave" but of a "tide", under the pressure of the British variant.
The wearing of the mask is therefore reinforced, the vaccination accelerated with 16,700 additional doses, shops of more than 5,000 m2 are closed, on the model of the Alpes-Maritimes.
If the situation is "very heterogeneous" in France, according to Olivier Véran, it has deteriorated in just a few days.
This Wednesday, more than 31,500 new cases were identified, a record since mid-November.
"We erased in one week the two weeks of consecutive decreases that we had", he warned.
And, in its latest data, the Pasteur Institute confirms this bad path taken by the virus in the country: “In many regions, our projections indicate an upward trend in hospital admissions for the coming days.
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A little over a dozen “high-risk” departments are of particular concern to the authorities.
“Several are clearly above the alert threshold as is the case in the Paca region, in Ile-de-France, in part of the Grand-Est and in the Hauts de France, alerted the minister.
The next few days will be crucial, even decisive.
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Olivier Véran said that the details of the list will be unveiled Thursday evening, during the press conference with the Prime Minister, Jean Castex.
Consultations should be announced between local elected officials and prefects to examine the need to take decisions on the model of what was done in Nice or Dunkirk, no doubt during the week.
"We must delay as much as possible national confinement"
But can this targeted response hold up when more and more departments turn red?
"I could be wrong but for the moment, I do not see other regions ready to explode and the West remains preserved, tempers Roger Salamon, epidemiologist and former president of the High Council of Public Health.
National containment must be delayed as much as possible, not only does it screw up the economy, it deprives us of freedom, but it is not the right solution in terms of health since once lifted, the virus starts to rise again.
“At stake, also, obviously, the acceptability of such a measure.
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For the time being, and after a new Health Defense Council this Wednesday, the executive still sticks to this “case by case” strategy.
"We continue on this line to have this leeway when we need to respond to a worsening situation," explains one at the Elysee.
"The will of the executive is still to avoid general confinement and to keep schools open as long as possible", continues the entourage of Jean Castex, who could also evoke this Thursday the first effects of the vaccination on the elderly and the question of treatment in order to give some prospects of hope in the medium term.
In Dunkirk, the new measures were received freshly on Wednesday.
LP / Olivier Corsan
But nothing says that the regional method will be sufficient in the face of the deterioration of the situation.
"All our efforts must continue" to "avoid having to decide on a new national confinement", warned the government spokesperson, Gabriel Attal, while acknowledging that there is "obviously" no of "certainty that we will get there".
Hence the call for mobilization - "a real message of dramatization of the issue", says an adviser to the executive - that Jean Castex will hammer on this Thursday.
Faced with "the observed rise in the incidence rate in France, but also everywhere in Europe", the Prime Minister will call "for extreme vigilance of the French", according to his entourage.
While the virus could find an ally in the good weather and while weariness takes hold, the French are invited, more than ever, not to come together.
Patrick Goldstein, head of emergencies at the Lille University Hospital (Nord), utters a cry from the heart as hospital tension spreads in Pas-de-Calais: “Ten people cannot meet in gardens, this t is not possible, we must hold on, please give us the opportunity to treat the sick properly.
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