[ad_1]
The fifth wave of Covid sweeping over France pushes Emmanuel Macron to meet this Monday, at 4 p.m., a new Health Defense Council. Uncertainty hangs over the start of the school year, sporting and cultural events, while cancellations of international flights are on the rise.
The party is over. While we were finishing unwrapping the last gifts and gulping down the remains of chocolates, the Covid-19 pandemic was crossing a new stunning threshold in France. In twenty-four hours, more than 100,000 new cases were recorded on Christmas Day, according to Public Health France: a new record. Blame it on the omicron variant, which is much more contagious than its predecessors – it would nevertheless be less dangerous, according to British and South African studies. Faced with this conflagration, Emmanuel Macron meets this Monday, at 4 p.m., a Health Defense Council by videoconference. Between the wait for new health measures, the questions surrounding the start of the new school year and the chain cancellation of flights around the world, back to a Christmas weekend anything but normal.
In government pipes
The executive’s objective is clear, but the implementation delicate: to set up a response to match the virulence of the variant, without again paralyzing the country’s economy with a curfew or confinement. . Its strong measure has been known for several days: a “vaccination pass” must replace the health pass a little earlier than expected. The bill concerning it must be examined during an exceptional Council of Ministers, meeting in the wake of the Health Defense Council. It will then go into committee at the National Assembly on December 29, before going to the Senate from January 5 to enter into force before the 15th of the month. Thus, to access leisure activities, transport, bars and restaurants, you will need to have a complete vaccination schedule. Access to health and medico-social establishments and services will remain conditional on presentation of a negative test. In addition, the government is considering the creation of a “super pass”, with a negative test in addition to a complete vaccination, for certain places. “Very high risk”, clike nightclubs. As for New Year’s Eve, like last year, the executive would consider implementing a curfew, according to TF1-LCI.
Among the other anticipated announcements, the strengthening of teleworking. Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne asked companies on Wednesday “To prepare now” to establish “Three days minimum” home office “For positions which allow it”, “or even four when possible”. Finally, faced with the alert issued on Thursday by the Scientific Council, which fears a “disorganization” essential sectors of society caused by the explosion of contact cases and Covid, the government should review and harmonize the isolation rules.
What about children and back to school?
All eyes are also on the end of the school holidays, scheduled for January 3. In an open letter addressed to the Minister of Health published on Sunday on the website of JDD, 50 health workers say they are “Very worried” facing “Current level of viral circulation of the coronavirus among children and adolescents of school age”, and ask “Postponement of the start of the school year”. “Since the beginning of November, 300,000 children and adolescents have been confirmed positive for Covid-19”, they point out, arguing that “Hospitalizations of children in conventional and intensive care units have exceeded the peaks of all previous waves, with more than 800 children under 10 and 300 adolescents aged 10 to 19 hospitalized in six weeks”. “We have not stopped pointing out that the school environment was a blind spot in the health strategy in France. School is not just a door that you open or close: you have to make it secure ”, insists Christian Lehmann, general practitioner who signed the platform, who also writes the column “Epidemic Journal” for Release.
With his colleagues, he has been pleading for months for “The installation of CO2 sensors so that the teacher knows when to ventilate ”,“ the establishment of clear ventilation protocols in the classes ”,“ the distribution of FFP2 masks for teachers ” and an “Better information for children and parents”. “We are in a particular context of extreme tensions, the school is not equipped, we cannot reopen it as if everything were normal”, concludes the doctor. Several countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium had decided to bring forward the Christmas holidays in an attempt to limit the spread during the holidays. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson seems more on the Blanquer line. He claimed he was “Absolutely determined” to send children back to school after the holidays.
Concern for cultural and sporting circles
A heavy uncertainty hangs over the culture medium again. Belgium has closed its theaters since Sunday, a week after the establishment of containment in the Netherlands. “It hangs on our nose a bit. All the signals are red but we hope to be able to avoid a new closure, said Thursday Jean-Marc Dumontet, owner of several Parisian theaters. The teams continue to play, we are not going to stop and we will adapt no matter what. ” Side dark rooms, we also hold our breath. The production and distribution company Gaumont announced last week – without specifying its motivations – the postponement of the release of two of its films, including that of Franck Dubosc, Rumba life. “The health context is too heavy and the film too important to sacrifice it”, the actor pointed out on Twitter.
The world of sport is already turned upside down. In rugby, the match between Stade Toulouse and Stade Français, scheduled for Sunday evening, has been postponed due to “The health situation of the workforce” Parisian, according to a press release from the National Rugby League. French football seems for the moment more or less spared, unlike the British and German championships. Thirteen matches have been postponed for health reasons in England in recent weeks. Across the Rhine, sporting events will be played behind closed doors from Tuesday, a device that targets football in particular, and therefore the Bundesliga, which does not resume until January 7.
International connections in slow motion
Travel abroad is becoming more complicated again. During the Christmas weekend, airlines around the world were forced to cancel more than 7,000 flights, partly due to lack of staff. Many pilots, hostesses and stewards have in fact been placed in solitary confinement after being exposed to Covid-19.
Several countries have also tightened the conditions of access for travelers to their soil, such as the United States which now requires a negative PCR test carried out the day before departure, in addition to a complete vaccination schedule. Even more radical, Japan, Morocco and Israel have for their part closed their borders for a month to foreign nationals.
[ad_2]
Source link -83