This Monday morning, a young man from Stains (Seine-Saint-Denis) takes his courage in both hands. He takes advantage of the visit of the President of the Republic to a training center for industrial trades to ask him to relax the curfew by starting it at “7 p.m.”, because, he insists, “it” is hard “. The Head of State smiled at him: “We have to hold out for a few more weeks”, more precisely “four to six weeks”, he confides. This seemingly banal exchange did not go unnoticed as everyone wonders about the intentions of power, against the backdrop of an explosion of variants.
Will we finally reach the goal? Not really. A senior minister is even alarmist: “In the short term the situation is risky. We expect a rise in contamination in mid-March, if this is the case the tightening of constraints will be inevitable ”. At the Elysee Palace, we confirm: “There is no question of an immediate status quo or a weakening of measures”. A defense council will be held this Wednesday to take stock, in particular on the departments which are “potentially in disconnection”, according to a government adviser. About twenty territories have been placed on “alert” – increased contamination, high proportions of variants, saturation of resuscitations.
“A territorialized approach”
New “braking measures” could be announced this Thursday by Jean Castex at a press conference for entry into force on Saturday March 6. Until then, the prefects are required to organize consultations with local elected officials. In this context, national confinement is “very unlikely” in the next few days, we are assured in the executive, where a “territorialized” approach holds the cord.
But then what did the head of state mean by evoking a review clause in early April? “At that time, with spring, the weather will be better, which has an impact on the virus, and we will have vaccinated a large part of the most vulnerable groups. This will reduce the pressure on the hospital, ”decrypts a weighty adviser. Only here, adds a regular of defense counsel, “the question is how we go until April-May …”. Because weariness is felt, especially as the calendars follow one another and are not alike! On February 19, Emmanuel Macron gave himself “eight to ten days” to decide between a relaxation and more pressure. This is what he had slipped to parliamentarians of the majority, during a videoconference. A deadline already expired …
“Give a light at the end of the tunnel”
The health crisis obliges to constantly review the flight plan, even if it means appearing to contradict oneself. “When you’re on a plane in a storm, you have to fly with instruments: compass and altimeter, not fix yourself on the clouds”, Emmanuel Macron often repeated, when he was deputy secretary general of the Elysee. “Our big problem is to give a light at the end of the tunnel while explaining that the tunnel is very dark,” explains a minister. However, in order to gain acceptance for a tightening that appears inevitable, long-term hope must be given. “
This is precisely the subject of a meeting of ministers to be held this Wednesday or Thursday at the Elysee Palace to start working on the protocols for reopening restaurants, bars, places of culture, etc. Such as the establishment of a sanitary pass with the compilation of the latest test results, the establishment of flash tests, gauges in the stadiums or a QR code in front of the bars to trace the chains of contamination. A counselor summarizes: “We must anticipate, not to find yourself like a hen in front of a knife the day the situation improves”. It remains to be seen when that will be.
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