On Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior praised the " essential role " of the prefects in the face of the epidemic. Thursday, the National Assembly, as part of the fact-finding mission on Covid-19, gathered the testimony of three of them: Michel Lalande, prefect of the North and Hauts-de-France, Laurent Touvet, prefect of Haut-Rhin, and Bertrand Gaume, prefect of Vaucluse and vice-president of the Association of the prefectural body.
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In office for more than four years, Michel Lalande recalled that the Hauts-de-France were affected very early with suspicions in the Oise at the beginning of February and a first death on the 25th. He noted that, if the confinement was respected (less than 5% of controls gave rise to verbalization), the health situation would have been even more difficult if the epidemic had hit the most populated territories of the former Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. When compared to the population, the death toll is almost three times higher in Aisne or Oise than in the North.
Laurent Touvet, he described
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