The hotel and catering, tourism, events and sports sectors want to avoid being subject to new restrictions. While a health defense council is due to take place on Monday, several employers’ organizations in these sectors published a joint statement on Saturday, December 4 calling on the government to “Accelerate the vaccine incentive strategy” to fight the fifth wave of Covid-19.
“If new health restrictions were to be taken (…), we ask that they primarily target the vaccination obligation for unvaccinated people who do not have a medical contraindication ”, write the Union of Trades and Industries of the Hotel Industry, the National Group of Independents, the French Union of Event Trades, the Union Sport & Cycle and Cosmos. These organizations representing companies in the hotel and catering, nightlife, sport, leisure and tourism sectors are alarmed by the consequences that new restriction measures targeting all company persons could have. already in a “Financial and psychological situation (…) extremely precarious ”.
“The government must spare the UNHCR sectors [hôtellerie, cafés, restauration], events, sport and tourism, which have suffered the most from health restrictions for a year and a half “, insist these organizations. Less than a month before the end of year celebrations, the rise in health indicators begins to alarm the economic world. The events industry is already experiencing an avalanche of cancellations in recent days and the list is expected to grow.
New restrictive measures?
While the number of daily contaminations increases sharply and the Omicron variant is now present in France and Europe, the government is not ruling out announcing new measures next week.
A health defense council will take place on Monday to “See if additional measures need to be taken”, said Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday. “It’s a curve [de contaminations] vertiginous and therefore it is a defense council brought together in this context ”, for his part commented the spokesperson of the government, Gabriel Attal.
For the moment, the government is banking on two weapons to defend itself against this worsening of the epidemic: “We must continue to vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate, [et] respect barrier gestures “, pleaded Friday Emmanuel Macron. But at three weeks before Christmas, does the summons of the defense council mean the return of restrictions? “We will, as always, with pragmatism, proportion, and with the same philosophy, an assessment of the situation and the answers to be provided”Emmanuel Macron said from Dubai on Friday.
Clear deterioration of indicators
For several weeks, the deterioration of indicators has been clear in France. As of Friday, 49,858 cases were identified, for a daily seven-day average of 38,890, against less than 6,000 a month earlier. An increase which also affects the hospital. Some 11,103 Covid-19 patients are currently hospitalized in France, including 2,058 in critical care services, against around 6,600 and 1,000 a month earlier.
Several hospitals have reactivated their “white plan”, such as the Lille University Hospital. This plan notably enables the mobilization of additional resources in order to maintain optimal patient care. “This important decision was taken, after discussions in the crisis unit, in view of the evolution of the epidemic situation in the Lille metropolis”, explained the hospital.
According to health authorities, the level of incidence (the proportion of new cases) is now higher than the peak of the fourth wave: 342 cases per 100,000 inhabitants last week. It is particularly high in children aged 6 to 10 (750 per 100,000), who do not have access to vaccination.