The largest shopping centers in Val-d'Oise have closed their doors.
Police services toured the main targets of the government decree, for much of the day on Sunday, to enforce the closure.
The objective is to limit the spread of the epidemic in places favoring the mixing of the population.
With its approximately 60,000 m2 of surface, the 3-Fontaines, in Cergy, lowered the curtain on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Twelve other centers also closed their doors: Côté Seine in Argenteuil, Quatre-Tulipes in Montigny, Portes de Taverny, Art de Vivre in Eragny, Cora in Ermont, Ikea in Franconville and Gonesse (the latter closed when it was not listed), the Carrefour shopping center in Saint-Brice, the Leclerc shopping center in Franconville, Usine Center in Gonesse (28,000 m2), les Flanades and My Place in Sarcelles.
Quai des Marques, in Franconville, however, remained open this Sunday.
The center would drop just under the 20,000 m2 mark, beyond which closure is inevitable.
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“We had to explain the situation to two or three shops in the Carrefour Saint-Brice shopping center, two others in Flanades, which tried to open.
We also clarified the situation at Usine Center in Gonesse.
Apart from that, the check went off without a hitch, says Commissioner Laissy.
The process was above all educational and no one was fined.
"
"Reinforced controls"
For businesses that will remain open, compliance with the maximum customer level in the establishment continues to be checked.
Saturday afternoon, the prefect of Val-d'Oise himself checked it with the police services at Patte-d'Oie d'Herblay, at the Copistes mall.
A high place of consumption which presented Saturday afternoon the usual face of saturated car parks and roads.
"It is up to the traders to do everything possible to respect the gauge, it is their responsibility", underlines Amaury de Saint-Quentin, entering the Decathlon d'Herblay, an establishment which is advertised as "the most large sports store in Ile-de-France ”.
"How do you check the gauge?
How do you know there aren't too many customers?
The question put to the operations manager is straightforward.
“We have sensors on the doors that count the customers entering and leaving,” he replies.
We can consult the application which reads the figures at any time to verify.
We know the number of customers in the store in real time.
"
“We are lucky to be able to open.
We are not going to play with fire!
"
With its 8,000 m2 of sales area, the Decathlon Herblay was authorized to accommodate a maximum of 1,000 people this Saturday.
The gauge put in place since Sunday in the context of the health crisis, going from 8 m2 to 10 m2 per customer, for businesses of more than 400 m2.
The tonnage reduced to 800 people should not penalize the store.
The manager shows the graphics on his computer, which records the presence of 253 customers at 4 p.m., 237 at 4:25 p.m.
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“We are lucky to be able to open.
We are not going to play with fire!
"But what if you go over the gauge?"
»Asks the prefect again.
"We regulate at the entrance" assures the operations manager who specifies: "During the peak of activity, the summer, we turn around 700 to 800 people at most.
We may have been surprised during the first confinement in May, especially in terms of cycling activity.
We have set up queues.
"
In the copyists' mall, the other stores clearly display the gauge at the entrance.
Like Running in front of which customers quietly queue while waiting for places to become available.
Other checks were carried out in the Val-d'Oise, in particular in Argenteuil, at the Côté Seine shopping center, and Sarcelles, as well as in the gendarmerie area.
"I'm hallucinated, nobody pays attention"
"We will feel better when we are all vaccinated," says a client of Herblay who understands the need for new government measures.
“I have a mixed opinion.
In a way, that's good.
This helps limit the spread of the virus, ”continues Sofiane, who has just left Leroy Merlin, nearby.
“Inside we are a bit on top of each other anyway.
Unfortunately, the rules of distancing are not respected.
For the economy, it is something else.
Although for e-commerce, in which I work, it is an advantage… ”he confides, adding to return from Ikea Franconville where customers, according to him, are very crowded on the shelves and at the checkouts.
Among them, Martine, who came from Boulogne (Hauts-de-Seine) to buy a sofa for her elderly mother.
In Ikea's parking lot, she confirms and finds the measures justified: "I'm hallucinated!"
There are a lot of people and no one is paying attention.
The distance is not respected.
"
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"There are 2,900 new cases of Covid every week in Val-d'Oise, that's a huge figure"
"Everyone must be aware that if the sanitary measures are respected by everyone, we should be able to avoid a new confinement", underlines the chief of staff of the prefect during the intervention which takes place with the presence of police officers, who consider the controls necessary: "We must prevent the behavior of some penalizing the whole community.
"
14 minutes for not wearing a mask and 43 others for not respecting the curfew
Police and gendarmes deployed to enforce the curfew.
On Saturday, 481 checks were thus carried out by the police who found 14 offenses for not wearing a mask, 43 for non-compliance with the curfew.
In addition, 31 establishments open to the public received a visit from the police.
Sunday evening, around fifteen checkpoints were scheduled in the Val-d'Oise to verify compliance with the curfew from 6 p.m.