Covid-19 rebound: the government is considering a curfew in several major...

Faced with the rebound of the epidemic, the executive could once again tighten the restrictions. Emmanuel Macron, who will speak Wednesday, October 14 at 7:55 p.m. on TF1, LCI and France 2, will deliver a new message of vigilance to the French by urging them to respect health rules and avoid gatherings, especially family gatherings. A hardening of tone already outlined by Jean Castex, who now speaks openly of “second wave“epidemic.

On this occasion, the Head of State could announce new measures. In the morning, a defense council was to allow to study “epidemiological data to see if it is necessary to go further”.

According to information gathered by LCI on Tuesday evening, the government plans to introduce a curfew in certain large metropolises particularly affected by the epidemic, including Paris. In this hypothesis, several scenarios are being studied, a curfew from 8 p.m., or 9 p.m., or even 10 p.m.

On September 23, faced with the sudden rise in indicators in certain territories, the executive adopted a new nomenclature, creating several levels of seriousness, “alert zone”, “reinforced alert zone”, “alert zone maximum “, which today concerns several metropolises, including Paris and Marseille, and results in the most drastic measures.

Over the past weeks, restrictive measures have been taken in a growing number of metropolises particularly affected by the resumption of the pandemic. They essentially consist in limiting gatherings, the closing of bars and sports halls or even the obligation to wear a mask over large areas.

The possibilities are now more limited for the head of state. The last stage of this nomenclature is indeed “the state of health emergency”, that is to say the regime under which the national territory was placed between mid-March and July 1. It is this regime which in particular allowed the implementation of confinement, with the interruption of the freedom of movement for the whole population, except in exceptional cases.

Since the start of the school year, the government has continued to proclaim that it wants to prevent at all costs from returning to the situation that prevailed last spring. “A general re-containment must be avoided by all means“, thus decreed Jean Castex, this Monday on France Info. However, the head of government left the door open to localized reconfigurations, measure still unprecedented in France but already practiced in other European countries, like Spain or the United Kingdom. “Nothing should be excluded when we see the situation in our hospitals“, acknowledged the Prime Minister.

For the moment, the executive seems to want to avoid any form of reconfinement of the population, aware that such a radical measure has violent effects on the economy but can also be badly accepted by the population. A source close to the executive thus believed to know that there would be no localized reconfinement before the All Saints holidays, despite the concern around possible contaminations in the family circle. “It would be paradoxical to put limits on the activities that we know how to control, when it happens where we cannot control [la sphère privée, NDLR]“, also confided a member of the government to LCI.

On the other hand, one of the few avenues still on the table at the present time is indeed that of a curfew in areas under pressure, like what has already been done in Guyana, where it is ‘applies from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., and in several German cities, to reduce social interactions and therefore contamination. During the confinement, in metropolitan France, municipalities had also established a curfew.

The measure was proposed by the Scientific Council in its opinion on 23 September, as was local containment. A curfew could be declined “taking into account the territories, the durations as well as the schedules selected“, pleaded the experts. “It could be considered to proceed with a curfew for a limited period, for example fifteen days in a limited number of metropolises.”

In addition to this possible hardening, Emmanuel Macron should especially get down to delivering a message of pedagogy and vigilance to the French, while signs of fed up are being felt in the country. “We are at a turning point“, the entourage of the head of state told AFP. The president should call for”learn better to live with the virus, in the longer term, so as not to fall into a more serious situation. But also to stress that there is better in areas where restrictive measures have been applied, such as in Nice“.

“There is a real sociological risk of saturation, which the French can no longer bear and massively reject“, also noted a tenor of the majority Monday, October 12 with LCI, predicting that the President of the Republic”don’t dramatize wednesday“, but strive to re-explain the choices that have been made.”Our fellow citizens must understand that the disease is not behind us and that the virus will surely stay several months, many months.“, estimated the Prime Minister this Tuesday morning in front of the LaREM deputies, setting the tone of what could be the presidential intervention.”We must adapt to avoid ‘stop and go‘too harsh, and hope that our behavior will become, in the long term, more responsible.“

The head of state could engage in “a perspective“in front of the French, believes another member of the government.”A call for individual responsibility by explaining what could be the next step if the French are not careful“, specifies this source to LCI.”He will rather say ‘this is the type of action that we would be likely to take’ “.

Since the deconfinement, Emmanuel Macron had left to his government the care of announcements relating to the health crisis. His intervention on Wednesday shows a head of state forced to return to the front line in the face of this second wave of the coronavirus.