Constraints, but not too many: how the executive decided between anti-Covid restrictions

The end of the year is coming to an end for the executive as it began: against the backdrop of the Covid-19 health crisis and uncertainties.

"We are in total fog, it sails on sight," conceded this Monday, December 27 in the evening a member of the government, like the hazy sky which plagued the Parisian sky all day.

It was therefore necessary to wait past 7:30 p.m., and a press conference jointly led by Jean Castex and Olivier Véran, to find out how the French will approach the transition to 2022. This public speech was decided in the afternoon, before to be definitively decided during the Health Defense Council and the Council of Ministers which stood for Emmanuel Macron by videoconference from Fort de Brégançon, his holiday resort in the Var.

“It gave a bit of a strange atmosphere.

Part of the executive was there, at the Élysée… but not him, ”concedes a participant.

"A film that never ends"

One year to the day after the first vaccine injection received by Mauricette, France is not done with Covid-19.

Worse, the Omicron variant panics all the statistics recorded so far: more than 100,000 people infected in 24 hours, a record announced on Saturday.

"The situation is extremely tense", admitted the Prime Minister.

The proof ?

Even his government is not immune to the hecatomb of the moment, since, after the ministers Agnès Pannier-Runacher (Industry) and Franck Riester (Foreign trade), it was Barbara Pompili (Ecological transition) who was forced on Monday. in isolation after a positive test.

"It all looks like a film that never ends," continued the host of Matignon, after announcing a new series of measures to try to stem the meteoric spread of the virus.

Read alsoNo curfew or postponement of the start of the school year: faced with Covid-19, the government is firstly focusing on vaccination

The objective is clear, once again, to accelerate vaccination, the only real weapon to curb the epidemic.

Even if, as Olivier Véran recognized right next to him: "Omicron is a variant which circulates so quickly that we do not have enough perspective to control all the ins and outs".

"A race against time"

Confused, the government has thus returned to the deadline for the injection of the booster dose, which will be reduced to three months after the previous dose, as recommended since the end of last week the High Authority of Health.

From Monday, gatherings will be limited to 2,000 people indoors, and 5,000 outdoors, for a period of three weeks.

Standing concerts are prohibited, as are drinks standing in bars and restaurants.

In companies, teleworking will be “compulsory” when possible, for a minimum of three days and for at least three weeks.

Jean Castex added that the “obligation to wear a mask will be extended

especially in city centers”.

"We are in a race against time," insists the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, nothing concerning new isolation rules for patients and their contact cases, while the current provisions raise fears of a possible paralysis of the country with the multiplication of work stoppages.

The government will decide by the weekend, after receiving new proposals from the health authorities.

"Making announcements on the 27th for the 31st would have been politically very complicated"

And what about New Year's Eve?

Nothing, no curfew, except common sense recommendations to urge the French to "limit major holidays", ventilate the rooms well and carry out tests.

"Making announcements on the 27th, for measures concerning the 31st, that would have been politically very complicated", admits a ministerial adviser.

Just as it is not planned to postpone the start of the school year.

“It would have forced families to organize themselves to work at home while looking after the children.

We saw what this caused during the first confinement.

We were not going to send such a message within a week of the start of the school year, ”we continue, to be flexible.

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False health passes: Jean Castex promises reinforced sanctions and controls

The message of firmness, on the other hand, was sent to false users of the health pass, which will become a vaccination pass as of January 15 and after the examination of the bill which begins this Wednesday in the Assembly.

As a result, "an increase in sanctions", we promise, and the possibility of joining this control to the identity of the people concerned.

Enough to promise heated debates in Parliament.

Especially in the face of an opposition that intends to make itself heard.

Even more with the approach of a presidential campaign which has perhaps not finished being parasitized by the health crisis.