A little more flexibility in the health protocol to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. A decree published this Tuesday morning in the Official Journal opens the door to gatherings of more than 5,000 people from August 15. Derogations that the prefects may grant "on an exceptional basis" after "analysis of risk factors".
The decree thus lists the factors that they must take into account in order to grant or not these exemptions, expected by the organizers of sporting and cultural events: "the general health situation and that of the territories concerned", the "measures implemented by the organizer in order to ensure compliance with the provisions of Article 1 "( Editor's note: the physical distance of one meter between two people ), the" provisions specifically taken by the organizer to prevent the risk of the virus spreading ".
If the exemption can be extended from one match to another within the framework of a championship, the prefect can decide to put an end to it at any time if the sanitary or organizational conditions are no longer met. .
This decree will therefore come into force one week before the resumption of Ligue 1, the weekend of August 22-23, and fifteen days before that of the Top 14. The clubs should therefore in places be able to exceed this gauge of 5000 spectators, but without obviously being able to fill their enclosure given the constraints of physical distancing. Some, like Lorient (Ligue 1) or Brive (Top 14), have suspended their subscription campaign so as not to exceed this bar.
In an interview with the Parisian on Monday July 20, the Minister for Sports Roxana Maracineanu had pleaded for an evolution of the limits of spectators in the stadiums by no longer being based "on the notion of gauge, but no longer simply on physical distancing".