"There will be no total confinement, because there would be more ailments than cures." With these words, spoken before religious and moral authorities on Monday morning, Emmanuel Macron closed the debate which had been going up for several days. Throughout the weekend, doctors in particular went upstairs to request a much stricter quarantine. “Absolute containment is not a panacea, because society is collapsing and afterwards, how do we rebuild it? Contacts must be reduced, but social ties must not be reduced, ”insists the head of state.
Especially since this exceptional regime will be maintained beyond the fifteen days initially decreed… As expected, the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, guest of the 20 Hours of TF1, warns: “The time of confinement can last for a few more weeks” .
VIDEO. Fines, sport, markets.… Edouard Philippe tightens the rules of confinement
"People will have to eat"
Major danger in the eyes of the executive couple: possible shortages. So, France remains in "confinement as defined", in the terms used Monday evening by the head of government. "A complete confinement could have worse repercussions than the health crisis, with supply problems in supermarkets, riots ... We cannot feed 70 million French people by making home deliveries, except by setting up rationing ! ”, Decrypts a relative of the Head of State, who pinpoints“ a form of unconsciousness of those who ask us to prohibit everyone from going out ”. In other words by Edouard Philippe: "People will have to eat." But also, thinking of the post-crisis period: "The country will have to leave next."
However, following the opinion issued Sunday evening by the Council of State, the Prime Minister unveils new measures for a more complete application. "Containment as defined," but "strictly enforced," he says. Clearly, the executive believes, as its spokesperson, Sibeth Ndiaye says, that "hardening confinement is already succeeding in ensuring that it is properly respected". It is also a question of complying with the request of the Council of State which, seized by doctors, "enjoined" the government to remove the ambiguity on certain travel authorizations.
Hence the clarifications made in the evening by the head of government. Going out for a walk with your children or for playing sports? "It must be within a radius of 1 km from your home at most, for one hour, and obviously on your own, and once a day." Consequently, a new mention will appear in the certificates on honor: the time of exit. As for medical appointments, they must be justified by "urgent care or that respond to a summons from a doctor". The head of government also confirms that he is in favor of the implementation of curfews "where it is necessary, where the health situation requires it".
Pressure builds up on government
Additional tightening, on the other hand, in the open-air food markets, a point which was debated within the government: they will be closed. Derogations will however be authorized where it is the "only" means of having "access to fresh products". As one minister told us, "grandpa and grandma, for some, this is the only place where they get their supplies". Then, the prefects, on the advice of the mayors, will be able to derogate from this ban. Philippe also pleads for a "civic reserve" to help the elderly
The decree being signed Monday evening by the Prime Minister, the new measures will take effect this Tuesday morning. As pressure increases on the government, Edouard Philippe requests "time" for the effects of confinement to be perceived. And if he considers, according to those around him, that these new rules of life "are starting to infuse", he hammers this message: "Respect strictly, very strictly" the instructions.
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PODCAST. Emmanuel Macron and the coronavirus crisis: in the head of the president (episode 2)
