Be Extremely Severe With Those Who Violate Confinement, Judge Estrosi

• The mayor of Nice, tested positive for coronavirus, manages the crisis from his home.
• Christian Estrosi announced “the pooling of national and municipal police forces to be extremely harsh on those who contravene the instructions given” in the context of confinement.

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The first round of municipal elections Hardly passed, the diagnosis fell for the outgoing mayor (LR) of Nice. On Monday,
Christian Estrosi announced
that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus after the appearance of “first symptoms”.

Since then, the elected official has been confined to his home and has been working on “crisis management” with his videoconference teams. New measures were taken in the city as the executive announced on Monday evening traffic restriction measures to combat the spread of the virus. By phone, the elected official takes stock of the situation with 20 minutes.

First of all, how do you feel?

I feel very tired. And some aches, like a big flu. I no longer knew what it was like because I have been vaccinated for 25 years, but that allowed me a little reminder. It doesn’t stop me from working, under new conditions like everyone else. I see that the prefect [des Alpes-Maritimes] stay at home, my main collaborators too. I have 6,000 staff from the city and the metropolis [sur 12.000] non priority who I asked to stay with them.

Have other cases been detected around you?

My wife[thecolumnistof[lachroniqueusedeTelematin Laura Tenoudji-Estrosi]had the same symptoms. We were both screened. And we were positive. She is like me in pretty good shape. Around me, out of the twenty or so people I have worked closely with over the past few days, two were starting to experience the same symptoms. [mardi] morning. Like everyone else, they are confined.

How will your days go?

We manage by videoconference. We don’t stop. I hold a dozen meetings a day. Then phone, phone, phone. Here I am, nailed at home but I am everything, minute by minute. It does not change anything.

You are also chairman of the board of directors of CHU de Nice. What is the current state of the epidemic in the area?

I’m pretty worried about the days ahead. Until now, we were a region which was rather spared but it is starting to rise. And we know that within 48 hours, it will go up very very strong. To date, we have 96 cases identified in the Alpes-Maritimes. The CHU has programmed 50% of its non-emergency surgical procedures to be able to equip operating theaters with respiratory devices and to cope with a possible influx. The CHU is not in the red at the moment. We also shared the load with other establishments in the department, in Cannes, in Menton and in other smaller structures. And then, people, like me, are more and more, for many, supported in ambulatory, at home.

Should the confinement decided on Monday evening last more than a fortnight?

These measures must already be followed to the letter. This is a serious matter. I tell everyone ‘worry’. I’ve seen too many scenes in supermarkets, in markets, of people totally oblivious. The only way to quickly stop the epidemic is to respect the barriers. We must not meet anyone. The goal is to achieve a decline in three weeks and it is achievable. This is the whole issue of management, which I find quite solid, decreed by the President of the Republic.

How will the checks be carried out in Nice?

With the prefect, we decided to pool the national and municipal police forces to be extremely harsh on those who contravene the instructions given. From tomorrow [mardi] morning, they will patrol together and divide up the areas identified at risk. We also had a looting scene last night [de lundi à mardi] in a Moulins supermarket [un quartier de l’ouest de la ville]. These kinds of security concerns are to be expected. There is not only discipline, there are also the risks of certain violent behavior which would like to profit from a supposed demobilization of the police.

You have decided to lower the use of public transport…

Transport has seen a drop in traffic. We are already 30% less. We reduce the airfoil by 25%, but we will still adapt so that people understand that we only use them when it is essential. And my goal is also to preserve my agents, my drivers. At the same time, street parking has been made completely free to facilitate the intervention of caregivers in the city.

You will also launch on the city’s website a directory of shops that can deliver food to your home…

We are in the process of making an inventory to put it online in the coming hours. Forty brands would be affected in total. The less people will need to eat while on the move, the better. And, at the same time, for a certain number of businesses that could have shut down, the delivery solution can support a certain level of turnover.

Precisely, how are you already working on the post-crisis, on the revival of the local economy?

We are discussing it with chambers of commerce and trades and federations of commerce and hotels. In the coming days, I will set up a solidarity fund via the CCAS for independent traders and craftsmen and small activities that do not have a cash fund. I asked the government for permission to make a municipal and metropolitan relief. There will also be a road tax exemption for restaurants until June and I have suspended the payment of tourist tax for hotels until early summer.

Was the decision to postpone the second round of the municipal elections the right one?

We could even have postponed the first round. It would have seemed more reasonable. It was in any case not conceivable to maintain the second round within the framework of an almost general confinement. The date of this postponement remains to be determined. That of June 21 seems the most advanced, some also speak of 14.

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