What to do to stem the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic?
The executive, more than ever under pressure, could announce new restrictions on Thursday, January 14, a week after having extended an advanced curfew at 6 p.m. to new departments.
Le Figaro
takes stock of the various tracks mentioned.
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General ... or local re-containment
The track of a national reconfinement would still not be on the agenda, if one believes the last declarations of the members of the government.
"
At this stage, there is no planned re-containment
," spokesman Gabriel Attal assured Monday.
However, Prime Minister Jean Castex delayed the same day in the face of parliamentarians: "
We must not rule out confinement as a last resort
".
This Tuesday, the figures do not yet seem to justify such a measure: the curves of hospitalized patients and patients in intensive care still remain on the high plateau.
This week promises to be decisive, since the first figures related to the New Year's Eve of December 31 are expected.
The curve for hospitalized patients stopped on Tuesday, January 12.
Health Minister
To take into account the situation of the departments less affected by the epidemic, such as those of the Atlantic coast, the executive could also decide on a local re-containment.
The former mayor of Marseille Michelle Rubirola said in favor on Monday: “
And why not a reconfinement?
A re-containment to protect the Marseillaises and Marseillais (...), a real re-containment so that this virus stops circulating
”.
The incidence rate map in France.
The darker the department, the more cases.
Covidtracker
A national curfew at 6 p.m.
The 6 p.m. curfew could also be extended to the entire territory, while the next Defense Council is being held Wednesday morning.
Already in place in 25 departments in the East, this restriction could offset the upsurge in new cases linked to the British variant, since discovered in Lille, Bagneux or Marseille.
Jean Castex has indeed declared that in view of the current figures, a "
curfew is sufficient
".
To read also: “This decision adds difficulties to us”: traders exasperated by the curfew at 6 pm
Confinement on weekends, curfew on weekdays
Already advanced before the second confinement, this track is again on the table.
The objective would thus be to combine a national curfew at 6 p.m. with a total re-containment on Saturday and Sunday.
Read also: Covid-19: will France be forced to confine itself a third time?
The closure of schools ... or canteens
"
The closure of schools has rather dramatic consequences for children, in particular the most fragile, as we saw last spring
," explained the "vaccines man" of the government Alain Fischer, this Tuesday morning on France Inter.
And yet, the measure is mentioned again.
In a previous interview with
Le Figaro
, epidemiologist Antoine Flahault explained that “
school holidays are a very powerful brake on respiratory virus diseases, and Covid should not be an exception.
The question of the role of schools in transmission still deserves to be asked
”.
Especially since the variant detected in the United Kingdom could be more easily transmitted by children.
On the side of the executive, we want to do everything to avoid this closure of schools, colleges and high schools.
On the other hand, a possible closure of the canteens, conducive to contact between pupils, is envisaged.
The hypothesis of a suppression of sports activities and school trips is also imagined.
What if no measures were announced?
The executive will also study in the Defense Council the track of the "
status quo
".
He would then choose not to announce anything.
Little considered, it would however allow the prefects to advance the curfew themselves if the virus circulated too much in their department, thus leaving an additional week for the government to decide.