"There was no bet" on the health of the French.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal firmly defends, in the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), the decision taken in January not to reconfine the country in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, in our columns, the government spokesperson assures us that "if it were possible to return to January 29, we would take the same decision", he assures, referring to the surprise decision of President Emmanuel Macron, when a reconfinement was widely expected.
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Gabriel Attal cites examples from neighboring countries.
“Germany, in strict containment since mid-December, still is and cases are increasing.
Italy is entering a fourth containment because the epidemic is starting again at a gallop ”.
However, Germany has never had restrictions as strict as those put in place in France, especially concerning travel restrictions.
The curfew is also an exception.
"Germany has applied strict containment for three months," says Jean Castex.
No, Germany has never been "confined" in the sense that this word has in France.
No curfew in Germany either, except occasionally and locally.
- Thomas Wieder (@ThomasWieder) March 18, 2021
"The key to ending the crisis is not containment but vaccination", argues Attal to the JDD.
“Some argue for permanent confinement.
We want to get there with as few restrictions as possible ”.
To the newspaper which asks him if the bet of the Head of State has been lost, he retorts that “there was no bet.
We do not bet on the health of the French and we do not take such heavy decisions on hypotheses, but on facts ”.
"So it was the right decision"
However, he notes, “the outbreak of the epidemic announced for mid-February did not occur.
Forecasts announced 30,000 contaminations per day in mid-March after a month's confinement.
Today, seven weeks later, we have reached these same figures thanks to the efforts of all without having confined nationally.
It was therefore the right decision ”.
Here again Gabriel Attal, as for the containment of Germany, is imprecise.
The Scientific Council was counting on 5,000 cases per day after a strict confinement of one month from the end of January - beginning of February.
"Strict containment over a period of 4 weeks from the beginning of February (school holidays) makes it possible to bring the circulation of the virus back to around 5,000 daily contaminations", anticipates the Scientific Council.
4 / pic.twitter.com/BCaXn696F6
- Nicolas Berrod (@nicolasberrod) March 21, 2021
Asked about the possibility of loosening the constraints in mid-April, Gabriel Attal continues to judge this objective "attainable".
"When we have vaccinated a sufficient number of people at risk, hospital pressure will drop, which will give us a chance to loosen the constraints by this time," he said.
“That remains the objective, in a context that is nevertheless worrying on the epidemic level and marked by the spread of the British variant.
"