CURFEW. Eight departments will implement the curfew at 6 p.m. this Sunday. Find the list and map of the areas concerned.
[Mis à jour le 10 janvier 2021 à 11h34] “We are taking difficult but necessary measures,” the Prime Minister explained on Saturday during a trip to Tarbes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées. Eight new departments must apply the reinforced curfew measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus, then announced Jean Castex. Eight prefectures have confirmed the application of the curfew at 6 p.m. from this Sunday: the Cher, l’Allier, the Côte-d’Or, the Haut-Rhin and the Bas-Rhin, the Vaucluse, the Alpes de Haute Provence and the Bouches-du-Rhône. Two other departments will implement this measure from Tuesday, January 12: the Where and the Drôme. “Everyone is aware that the epidemic is not weakening or that it weakens differently or that it is strengthening in certain areas of the territory,” said Jean Castex. These departments join the first 15 who have advanced the curfew for a week.
During his press conference on Thursday, the head of government announced the desire to extend the curfew measure to around ten departments where the epidemic situation seems worrying, indicating that it would be up to the prefects to “drive very quickly the necessary consultations with the elected representatives of these territories to properly analyze the situation “. Friday evening, the situation was particularly confused.
In the Bouches-du-Rhône, local elected officials did not fail to be heard throughout the evening on Friday. If the “consultations were still in progress” at the end of the evening, and despite the numerous protests, it seems however that the department is on course to see its curfew widened. Regarding the Hautes-Alpes, in the early evening on Friday, Senator Loïc Hervé was delighted on Twitter that local elected officials, for the most part against the tightening of the curfew, made themselves heard and that the prefect finally decided to their leave the end of the story. “ATTENTION: Curfew: at this stage, the information published on the prefecture’s website today has been modified and is not confirmed,” he tweeted later. So here we are back to the starting point for this department. At 9 p.m., the prefecture finally let it be known that no decision will be announced until Saturday.
Also note that the Guyana, which was not yet announced, indicated Friday the advance of the curfew at 7 p.m. on Saturday for five municipalities. Are concerned: Cayenne, Rémire-Montjoly, Matoury, Macouria and Kourou. Until now, these communes had the 9 pm permission. Likewise, in eight other municipalities, the curfew will be reduced from midnight to 10 p.m.
In addition, the head of government also indicated that the national curfew would be extended until January 20… Date of new confinement? As a reminder, several criteria are taken into account when deciding to strengthen the curfew in a department: if the incidence rate exceeds 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and if the occupancy rate of intensive care beds by Covid patients exceed 30%.
So far, the curfew has already been advanced to 18 hours in 15 departments since the beginning of the year. It’s about Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Ardennes, Doubs, Jura, Marne, Haute-Marne, Meurthe et Moselle, Meuse, Haute-Saône, Vosges, Territory from Belfort, Moselle, Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire. For these departments, the curfew therefore begins two hours earlier than in the rest of France. All travel is prohibited during these times, except for compelling reasons.
Why are these departments affected by this reinforced curfew? The Ministry of Health has factually set two criteria for drawing up the list of departments concerned by the measure: an incidence rate greater than 200 and / or an incidence rate of the elderly greater than 200. Jérôme Salomon gave other explanations in the Journal du dimanche, January 3. “These are areas where it is colder and where the virus therefore circulates more,” said the Director General of Health. These are also border areas, more rural, with more vulnerable populations.
All health measures will be reconsidered by Friday January 8 by the government in consultation with local elected officials. Other departments could therefore be affected by this curfew at 6 p.m.
It is not at all excluded that the capital or other Ile-de-France departments will be placed in the future under a tougher curfew regime, with an advanced start at 6 p.m., given the evolution of the indicators. In Paris, the general incidence rate was 139 on December 31, 132 in Sein-Saint-Denis, 134 in Val-de-Marne, 133 in Val d’Oise. Anne Sénéquier, co-director of the health observatory at Iris, was quite concerned on January 3 on BFMTV: “We were already close to certain regions affected by the curfew. In Île-de- France, the population density is also higher and, there, we have the returns from holidays. There could therefore be an increase in the number of cases in the days to come. “
Practical information on the curfew
As a reminder, if free movement has become the rule again since December 15 in France, with the end of confinement stricto-sensu, this is only valid during the day. For the second time, the country is in fact subject to the curfew rule in order to best control the coronavirus epidemic while allowing the French to travel for the end of year celebrations. Currently in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., the curfew should run until the end of January, even if the date of January 7 is still announced to take stock of the situation. What are the rules and exceptions for this new curfew? Our responses.
From December 15 until January 20, the curfew is in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Travel is prohibited, with some exceptions, during this time slot. The rest of the time, outings and trips are authorized, confinement is no longer in force. In 15 territories, the curfew was tightened on January 2, 2021, and begins at 6 p.m.
Here are the exits authorized during curfew hours (and which must be justified by the certificate):
- Return to and from his place of work if it is night work or requiring a return home after 8 p.m. (or a business trip that cannot be postponed)
- Compelling family reasons, for assistance to vulnerable and precarious people, in particular to people with disabilities or for childcare
- Medical reasons: going to the hospital, appointments for examinations and care that cannot be provided remotely and purchase of medication
- Participation in missions of general interest at the request of the administrative authority (marauding associations for the fight against poverty or distribution of food aid at home, for example)
- Help for people with disabilities and their companions
- Walk a domestic animal around its home.
Despite the end of confinement, a travel certificate is still in effect during the curfew. This document is necessary for any outing provided for in the derogatory grounds, between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The rules are the same as for confinement: a fine of 135 euros can be imposed in the event of non-compliance with the measures introduced. “And if there was ever to be reiteration, that is to say if, after three times, […] a sentence of 6 months of imprisonment is possible as well as a 3750 euros fine “, specified the Minister of the Interior during the first curfew.
The curfew was initially set to last until January 20, when the restrictions were to end. But this deadline seems at this stage very uncertain. The epidemic indicators being on a plateau, even on the rise for some since the beginning of December, it is possible that the government decides to extend the measure at the beginning of the year 2021. Announcements could be made at the beginning of January. Fears of a third confinement even emerged before the holidays but have so far been ruled out. Olivier Véran confirmed this on December 29. “What we are ruling out is the idea of containment,” he explained.
–
