A department of irreducible Gauls? A Coronavirus “Bermuda Triangle”? The trend has been emerging for a few days, it was confirmed this Friday by the government: the Côte-d’Or will not be subject, as of tomorrow Saturday, to the curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Our department and our neighbors of Yonne are an exception in the great Burgundy-Franche-Comté region. How to explain it?
“We must hear the economic arguments, from the moment when the contamination figures are lower”
Contacted by France Bleu Bourgogne, François Rebsamen believes that “it is the effort of the inhabitants of the Dijon metropolis, and of the entire department, that we must salute“. The mayor of Dijon, president of the metropolis and former Minister of Labor, recalls that the figures for the coronavirus have been encouraging in recent weeks:”We were much higher in September, we were the most impacted, and everyone’s efforts have paid off ever since. So it is normal that we wait, now, before imposing a confinement on us at 6 p.m., which would definitely kill the traders, in particular the restaurateurs. These are economic arguments that must be heard, from the moment when the contamination figures are lower in our department than elsewhere.“
40 people in intensive care this Friday in Dijon
As for the numbers, according to the last government count, the Côte-d’Or has 365 hospitalized people, a figure that has been falling for a few days. 40 people are in intensive care this Friday, four less than the day before. In total, there are 542 deaths in hospital. The situation is more worrying among our neighbors. “In Franche-Comté, all the departments are far above the average, and this is surely due to cross-border workers who circulate the virus faster. And in Burgundy, in the Nièvre, the incidence rate of people over 65 is high, because there are many elderly people. In reality, everything is explained “, justifies the mayor of Dijon.
“The curfew is not insignificant, it will pay off”
François Rebsamen also confides in having phoned several times during the week to Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, to support the cause of the Côtedoriens. “I pleaded for there to be geographic differentiation. It is normal to take the figures into account, and this is what I told Olivier Véran, saying that there was also a certain exasperation, I believe: the curfew at 8 p.m. isn’t trivial, so it will pay off if everyone follows the rules. We must continue to respect barrier gestures“, recommends the mayor of Dijon.
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