COMMENT. Control of the epidemic is in sight

The peak of the second wave of the epidemic has passed , tell us Emmanuel Macron, the president of the Republic. His speech on Tuesday was delivered with a bang. It was expected on the dates and terms of the lifting of restrictions, presented infographics in support. The rest, less listened to and less commented on, was even more important. It is a real battle plan that the Head of State exposed to the French. Full. Specific. Concise. Loud and clear. Finally !

In the spring, everything had to be done to avoid re-containment. The chosen strategy ( test, trace, isolate ) was not bad, it was South Korea, where it worked perfectly. Not with us, for lack of resources, experience and discipline. The analysis laboratories were overwhelmed in September. The StopCovid application, shunned by the French, turned out to be inoperative. And the carriers of the disease only kept the room if they wanted to.

Despite – or thanks to – this first failure, Emmanuel Macron is now convinced that we have the means [de] master, then defeat this virus . The state has identified some of [ses] weaknesses , dont imperfect organization, too much bureaucracy and knew how to get more efficient “. He promises to fix those vulnerabilities that sometimes we didn’t want to see and wants to rely on several things to avoid relapse: barrier gestures, a revised strategy and a future vaccine.

Sustainable control?

The barrier gestures are us and the spirit of responsibility of all ”. The vaccine is the responsibility of science and Europe, responsible for organizing the supply at EU level. The strategy, renamed test, alert, protect, cure to make it more acceptable, it is the sole responsibility of the public authorities. The President holds her as the most important tool […] to control the virus . And he’s determined to refine it to make it much more efficient .

Should we believe in it again? From January, no test should take more than 24 hours between the test request and its result. and rapid antigenic tests will be “Heavily used”, promises Emmanuel Macron. Side “Alert”, the new TousAntiCovid application has already been downloaded nearly 10 million times and the recruitment of new volunteers has been announced to follow up contact cases.

Conjugation of measures

For protect , the President wants the government and Parliament to change the laws so that they can force patients to adhere to quarantine. A sensitive subject, which will inevitably be debated, but if we want to avoid confinement, we must be more restrictive with regard to those who have the virus ”, pleads Emmanuel Macron. As for healing, a lot of progress has been made in the care and treatment of patients.

More than the announcements on the lifting of confinement, it is the combination of these measures that made the strength of the presidential statement on Tuesday. A sustainable virus control seems within reach. A hope all the more in sight as the words of Emmanuel Macron force him to succeed. A third confinement would make him lose all credibility …

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