Would it be a reprieve? During his press conference on Thursday, January 14, 2021, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced – without much surprise – the generalization of the curfew to fight the coronavirus pandemic. "The situation is under control but fragile", did he declare. "This situation leads us to additional measures", he added in uannouncing a curfew extended to the entire territory, in metropolitan France, from Saturday January 16 and for at least 15 days. And to specify: "The health situation does not require new confinement." Yes, but for how long? Is there a third confinement? above the heads of the French? Jean Castex does not rule out the hypothesis, quite the contrary. "With this strengthening of the curfew, we remain consistent with our strategy of graduated response proportionate to the epidemic risk", assures the politician. "Indeed, As I speak to you, the health situation does not require that we put in place a new containment which would constitute a very heavy decision, the human, economic and social cost of which we know. I remind you that when we decided on the second confinement at the end of October, we observed around 50,000 contaminations per day against 16 or 17,000 today. It is also much less than the levels observed today in the countries around us, where the epidemic is soaring. The hospital situation was also much more tense. " But … there is a "But". The Prime Minister details: "But I want to be perfectly clear with you: if we see a strong epidemic deterioration in the coming days, we would have to decide without delay on new confinement […] We must prepare for any eventuality. " The French have been warned.
"It's inevitable", warned Professor Gilles Pialoux
Already, three days earlier, Monday January 11, 2021, the Prime Minister, who recently made controversy about vaccines, did not close the door to a containment, as revealed BFMTV. "We must not rule out a third confinement as a last resort ", the politician said then, according to comments reported by participants at a parliamentary follow-up committee meeting. However, he would have qualified in the wake: "For the moment, the figures to date suggest that the curfew is sufficient." According to The Parisian, Jean Castex would have also specified, still in connection with a possible reconfinement: "We are doing everything to avoid it, but all options are on the table." The same day, in The world, doctors and members of the PandémIA association pleaded for a "strict and early containment." This solution is, according to these specialists, "the best weapon against viral spread." They mention in particular the two new mutants from the United Kingdom and South Africa, "much more contagious." Asked by BFMTV, the head of the infectious diseases department at Tenon Hospital, Gilles Pialoux, says a new lockdown is inevitable. "In terms of health, it is inevitable", assured the infectious disease specialist, who also signed the forum. A new curfew, then … while waiting for a new confinement?
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