Will France, in turn, experience a “holiday” effect, comparable to the wave of contamination that followed Thanksgiving in the United States?
Still too early to know.
We will have to wait at least the weekend, but already, a defense council on the Covid-19 is convened this Tuesday morning by videoconference.
He must take the pulse of a complex health situation.
Before family meals, the French were massively tested, which complicates the interpretation of the figures.
“Overall, there is no national conflagration, we are on an epidemic plateau.
But there are significant regional differences, ”said an adviser to the Ministry of Health.
France even seems to be cut in two.
The Grand-Est, Bourgogne Franche-Comté and Nice are particularly affected.
On Monday, the mayors of Nancy (Mathieu Klein) and Reims (Arnaud Robinet) sounded the alarm.
They are calling for the return of confinement, at least locally.
“I know, it's an unpopular decision.
If it is requested by local elected officials, it can be better accepted, ”comments Arnaud Robinet.
Which underlines a "real listening on the part of the Minister of Health.
"
Estrosi's pressure blow
Is a third containment in the boxes?
In government, we are sweeping away all alarmism.
"You should never exclude anything, however this seems unlikely in the very short term," said a weighty adviser.
“We are not in a situation of epidemic recovery,” continues one of his colleagues.
In addition, other tools exist in our palette, such as a curfew starting earlier.
Containment is not a magic button!
"
The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi also put pressure on the government.
After a local public health council, he pleaded on Monday for a vaccination campaign "immediately", the obligation to impose PCR tests on passengers disembarking at the city's airport.
The elected LR was carried away against the principality of Monaco, where many Niçois will have fun, taking advantage of the opening of bars and restaurants.
Before returning home, at the risk of infecting their neighbors and friends.
The government is also working on possible strengthening of border measures.
Especially against the backdrop of the emergence of the English variant of Covid, considered to be more contaminating.
“It has been spotted in France for a few days and the regional health agencies have been alerted,” recalls in the entourage of Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
The only downside: few laboratories are equipped to track it down.
The wild evenings of the 31st in the sights
Another subject on the Defense Council's agenda: the vaccination campaign.
The stake is now logistics.
500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are due to arrive in France from this Tuesday.
The executive wants to ensure that the "restocking" will go as planned.
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Finally, with the approach of New Year's Eve, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin must specify the police device planned to enforce the cover-fe u and dissuade the French from having a party.
It will be the hunt for wild and forbidden evenings.
"No way it leaves in teufs of 500 people", squeaks an adviser.
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The entry into 2021 promises to be very sober.
Especially since on January 7, the government initially planned the possible reopening of cinemas, theaters, casinos, museums.
The specter of a third wave is making this timeline more and more hypothetical ...