As promised in the calendar unveiled on January 20 by the government, some constraints, such as the wearing of the outdoor mask or gauges, are lifted on Wednesday.
Le Monde with AFP
End of the gauges, from the wearing of the outdoor mask, mandatory teleworking: After other European countries, France begins Wednesday 2 February to lift the restrictions related to Covid despite a number of contaminations still very high. On January 20, the government had cleared a little the horizon of the French, clogged by nearly two years of pandemic, detailing a calendar of relief of the constraints on everyday life.
At the favor of the new vaccinal pass, which replaced the old sanitary pass at the end of January, “we will be able to in February, lift most of the restrictions taken to curb the epidemic,” Prime Minister promised Jean Castex. Promise holding: The lightening of the constraints takes effect on Wednesday. Now the port of the mask will no longer be mandatory outdoors, the gauges in places receiving the public sitting (stadiums, cultural institutions …) will be abandoned and teleworking will no longer be mandatory, but only recommended.
“It’s a big relief,” reacted to the France-Presse agency (AFP) Sylvie ChauCoy, director of the Zenith of Strasbourg, the largest Zenith of France. “We still had a knee on the ground on December 27,” the announcement of the gauges. “We are relieved, we will rework but now, we have to sell ticketing, the ticket does not sell now. We have this sword of Damocles above us,” she adds.
The discos soon reopened
Two weeks later, on the 16th of February, it was the nightclubs, closed since December 10, which will be able to reopen and the standing concerts will be allowed again. Consumption at the counter will also be possible in the bars. Like consumption in stadiums, cinemas and transport. Other European countries have already loosen their restrictions, like England and Denmark. In this country, even the sanitary pass is no longer mandatory.
In the eyes of the authorities, the lifting of the constraints is particularly justified by the fact that the sanitary threat due to the Omicron variant is limited, since it is less dangerous than its predecessors, although much more contagious. “It’s a political choice, in a health situation that is evolving very slowly and where everyone aspires to the afterwards”, comments Gilles Pialoux, Head of Infectious Diseases at Hospital Tenon, Paris. According to him, the decline is not yet confirmed: “We have the impression that we have not arrived at the descent of a peak but rather on a plateau”.
slow decl. Contaminations in perspective
On average over seven days, more than 334,000 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in France on Monday, a figure that drops every day slightly since last middle. But the number of cases remains at levels ever seen before the end of the end of 2021 of the Omicron variant. And if the situation seems stable in critical care services, the number of hospitalized patients is maintained at a high level.
“For the coming weeks, there is a large part of uncertainty,” recognizes Gilles Pialoux. Should he wait before loosening the vise? “Abandon the mask outdoors may result in a decrease in its use in closed spaces,” he worries. “The circulation of the virus remains extremely high and the infections will not fall again after the peak”, also warns the epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea. “To the extent that constraints are reduced without setting up braking measurements as the installation of CO2 sensors” to evaluate the level of contamination of the indoor air, the decrease may be very slow, warns it.
The virus circulates particularly in schools, the vast majority of children are not vaccinated so far. Jean Castex considered a relief from the health protocol for schools on the return of the February holidays, not before March 7, when all the children (from the three zones) will return from vacation.