Should employees prepare to switch back to “distancing”?
The figures for the coronavirus epidemic, with a 38% increase in positive cases observed in France this week compared to the previous one, are in any case pushing the government to keep all the cards in hand.
"
We probably have the capacity to face this fifth wave, provided that we use all the tools
", reassured Jean-François Delfraissy.
The President of the Scientific Council stressed, at the microphone of France Inter on Wednesday, the importance of "
vaccinating those who are not, the third dose, barrier gestures and the application of the health pass
".
Read also Covid-19: "The fifth wave has been there since, probably, mid-October," said Delfraissy
Jean-François Delfraissy is also thinking here of the return of reinforced teleworking for employees who can.
"
It's a political decision
," he said.
"
It is a decision that comes under the dialogue between the State and the companies, but we could optimize the use of teleworking in this phase to face the fifth wave
".
A "disproportionate" confinement
The telework option was deemed "
not relevant
" by Élisabeth Borne at the beginning of November. Gabriel Attal, government spokesman, for his part was measured, indicating at the exit of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday that he "
does not exclude anything in principle. No further action is planned. The tools at our disposal, health pass, vaccination, that allows us to be confident
”. If no firm measure is in fact taken at this stage, the return to teleworking is no longer completely set aside by the government. According to the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, interviewed this Tuesday, November 16,it is a tool "to
which we have used when necessary
" and which "
is part of the measures that we could mobilize
", He indicated to the newspaper 20 Minutes.
The executive had lifted, on September 1, any obligation to work a given number of days per week from his home.
The hand had thus been left to companies, leading to a drop in the number of teleworking days for employees.
According to the Directorate of Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares), the teleworking rate thus "
stabilized at a low level
" in September.
During this start-to-school month, 21% of employees have been teleworking for at least one day.
The new health protocol has seen the proportion of companies requiring at least one day of teleworking per week fall: 10% of employees were concerned, against 19% at the end of August.
Read alsoCovid-19: would it be possible to confine the unvaccinated only in France?
Several European neighbors have already decided to strengthen their measures to fight the epidemic in the face of the evolution of the circulation figures of the virus.
In Germany, where there are more than 40,000 positive cases every day, the government is working on a bill to massively switch employees back to telework.
This text should be presented to the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on Thursday.
In Austria, the government has decided to re-limit the unvaccinated.