Now is the time for a new lockdown … which does not speak its name. Thursday, March 18, 2020, Prime Minister Jean Castex was forced to tighten the screws, announcing at a press conference new braking measures in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus and its variants in France. France faces “A form of third wave”, he warned two days earlier. The horizon of a loosening in mid-April, recently mentioned by President Emmanuel Macron and government spokesman Gabriel Attal, therefore seems to be receding. And if the government is already considering the reopening of restaurants, hotels and bars, a third of the country's inhabitants find themselves confined again (or almost).
Containment … for the anniversary of the first confinement
On the menu of this “Third way” : confinement all week from Friday March 19 at midnight, travel of more than an hour within 10 km of home authorized, inter-regional travel banned again, closure of so-called shops “Non-essential” and schools open for 16 departments in Ile-de-France, in Hauts-de-France, in Alpes-Maritimes, in Seine-Maritime and in Eure. Not enough to drink, as this week heralded the anniversary of the very first confinement put in place in March 2020. A perspective that forces the French to wonder: when will we get out of this Endless day ?
Light at the end of the tunnel by the end of summer?
Guest on the show It feels good, hosted by Anne Roumanoff and broadcast on Europe 1 on Friday March 19, France's most famous doctor, Michel Cymes, breathed a wave of optimism. "I think we will see the end of the tunnel this summer, especially thanks to the vaccinations", he announces, however wanting to be cautious. “There, we don't have enough (vaccines) yet, but in (…) July-August, I hope that things will get better and that at the start of the school year, we will have a more or less normal life. ” Michel Cymes warns, however: "I hope. I'm not a diviner, we all messed up during this pandemic. I thought last summer it would calm down because of the weather and it didn't. " Prevention is better than cure ?
Read also : What can we do (or not) in the 16 confined departments?