"You have to be able to breathe, walk, play sports," Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday evening.
A promise that reassures many Val-d'Oisiens, at the time of reconfinement, but which also worries elected officials.
This Saturday, it is indeed spring and with the beautiful days, some fear to be confronted with important regroupings in the open air.
To offer a larger perimeter to walkers, and thus limit the risks in Cergy-Pontoise, several elected officials are trying to convince the prefecture to reopen the green lung of the agglomeration: the leisure island.
"Already when it was decided to close it, I was surprised", confides Alexandre Pueyo, departmental councilor (LR) who has just sent a letter to the prefect in this direction.
On March 5, in fact, the representative of the State decided to no longer authorize access to the 250 hectares located in Cergy and Neuville-sur-Oise.
A decision that was part of the device intended to curb the epidemic and which had already raised questions at the time of the publication of the decree.
High attendance of the major axis and the Eragny urban park
And indeed the last weekends hardly allayed the doubts of those who had them.
Significant frequentation of public places which are still open, in particular the major axis of Cergy or the urban park of Eragny, has been observed.
"If it's to have a crazy world elsewhere as soon as the weather is nice, you might as well reopen the leisure island, pleads Alexandre Pueyo, who is also vice-chairman of the board of directors of the leisure center.
We must give back space.
The Prime Minister said that sports activities were allowed, that you could go out as much as you wanted to get some fresh air.
This is exactly what the Leisure Island allows!
On the other hand, it is obviously necessary to prohibit gatherings of any type, around barbecues in particular.
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Jean-Paul Jeandon the mayor (PS) of Cergy is also convinced of this.
“This is the battle we are currently waging with several elected officials,” he explains.
It seems logical to reopen it.
The situation is incomprehensible for the inhabitants.
The Bois de Cergy is open, the leisure island is closed.
It is absolutely necessary to have consistent decisions.
I think that allowing outings without a time limit is a good thing.
You cannot concentrate people in neighborhoods where there are sometimes five of them living in a small apartment.
This confinement has important psychological repercussions.
In Cergy, we are lucky to have 25% of green spaces.
You have to be able to enjoy all the hectares of the leisure island.
»Jean-Paul Jeandon proposes in particular to leave the car parks of the site closed in order to limit even more access to the inhabitants of the agglomeration.
In Goussainville, a prevention mission in the parks this weekend
Elsewhere in the department, the same dilemma is played out: how to prevent gatherings while allowing everyone to breathe in the fresh air during this complicated period?
In Villiers-le-Bel, to avoid this problem, the municipality had been forced to close the parks from 5 p.m. in recent weeks.
“We heard the Prime Minister's speech and this Friday we decided to postpone the closure to 7 pm.
For the moment, there are not too many problems of promiscuity but it is spring, it is sure the attendance will resume ”, confides the city.
In Goussainville, we are taking the lead.
"As of this weekend, the mediators and the municipal police are assigned to work at the Delaune park in particular and at the Maurice-Baquet complex," we detail in the town hall.
Gatherings must be avoided at all costs.
The municipal services are in the process of making signage that will be affixed as quickly as possible in the parks to remind people of the rules.
The first being of course the wearing of the mask.
“Outside, people sometimes tend to forget about it.
"
The highest incidence rate in France
It is also a question of explaining that the groups must not exceed “six people”, according to the recommendations of the government.
“And no question of settling in large numbers to share a meal.
We will be doing a lot of pedagogy throughout the weekend.
The weather will be fine, these measures are difficult to accept especially in our urban areas.
"
And yet all measures to fight the epidemic are more crucial than ever.
At the end of the week, Val-d'Oise became the Ile-de-France department with the highest incidence rate.
As of March 18, it was officially 544.8 positive cases out of 100,000. A real jump observed over a week which would make him the most affected department in France.