After the decisions of the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, the socialist mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, considers that the closing of bars at 10 p.m. is a “Ineptitude” . For her part, the socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, criticizes the measures “Difficult to understand”. The socialist mayor of Rennes, on the contrary, defends the constraints put in place.
The elected officials of Marseille, especially socialists, feel punished by the new restrictions imposed by the state. You don’t?
There is a worrying epidemic situation in Rennes, with a sharp increase since mid-August in the circulation of the virus and the number of contaminations. Young people are particularly affected. And in a city where one inhabitant in two is under 30 years old, this requires taking measures, if we do not want the epidemic to be no longer controlled… and that we are obliged to further increase the constraints!
There may be the feeling that there is less severity of contaminations among young people. But it is a statistical truth. Above all, there are also high rates of contamination among those over 65, who are the most vulnerable, with initial hospital consequences.
There is no no saturation at the CHU. But there is an increase in the number of hospitalizations and the number of cases in intensive care. And no one wants to relive a situation with a deprogramming of other treatments which are however also essential.
We must succeed in curbing and controlling this situation. From the beginning of August, we therefore imposed the mask in the city center, before extending it to the whole city. Then the government has set other measures.
In fact, is the government doing a good job? Is he managing the health crisis well?
The government and the Minister of Health are in their role when they decide on a number of measures. I had strongly advocated for the territorialization of the management of the health crisis in Printemps. Adapting national measures to local contexts is a good way to go. But the national framework is necessary.
And we need the public authorities to speak with one voice so as not to introduce doubts that would be deleterious in terms of public health.
Beyond restrictive measures, what is expected of everyone is a change in behavior. The framework set for 15 days is difficult: but I consider that my role does not consist in commenting or criticizing it, but in ensuring that it is implemented as effectively as possible on the Rennes territory.
You had been made aware of the decision of the Minister of Health to close the bars at 10 pm, “nonsense” according to the socialist mayor of Lille Martine Aubry?
Yes, I had an exchange in the afternoon with Olivier Véran, before his press conference. He told me about the measures he was going to announce. And I told him he would find me by his side for a Republican speech.
No one takes these measures lightly and with a good heart. The cursor is difficult to put between the protection of health and the maintenance of our social, educational, economic life … The Minister sets a framework and my role is that it applies on the territory of Rennes in the most suitable way possible .
I must stress that a quality dialogue has been established with the prefecture. We have already acquired some work habits in Printemps. This summer we worked on a metropolitan epidemic management plan, by trying to anticipate situations as well as possible. It would be easier to step aside and signify disagreements when measures are unpopular. But I won’t.
Including if we go to the scarlet level and the government also announces the closure of restaurants, as in Marseille? Will the speech remain the same?
I want to assume a Republican speech. When the Minister of Health takes action, he is in his role. These measures are restrictive and difficult. I measure it vis-à-vis the bar owners, who have suffered a lot from confinement and have not found an activity afterwards.
They have made a lot of efforts to adapt to the health protocol and are once again in a very difficult situation for themselves, for their employees… It is also a part of our social life which is extinguished for 15 days.
Bar bosses promise actions in protest. What do you tell them? Clench your teeth?
I tell them that they can count on us to continue to be on their side. The whole issue is their support. We were present at every stage, with emergency aid, during containment, then reopening, with necessary investments and extended terraces …
I will be very vigilant that the Prime Minister announces the reactivation of support measures such as the solidarity fund. We will support our skills by pursuing exemptions from patio fees and the like.
But I also tell them that we have a collective effort to make if we do not want to fall into a situation of total non-control, where they would then be forced to close completely.
To be very clear, reconfinement is not excluded?
It would be a collective failure. Now everyone can see that making three-month projections, in the current world situation, is not possible. It is very difficult, because the uncertainty is worrying, it gives the feeling of change of foot, of turnaround … But this epidemic requires constant adaptation.
When we built the metropolitan epidemic management plan, we worked a lot with the 43 mayors of the metropolis, academic and economic players. We were anticipating what was going to be a resumption of the epidemic. But I must say very humbly that no one expected this recovery to be so rapid and important with such targeted contamination profiles.
Of course we had anticipated that the start of the academic year could be complicated. But that contaminations are at this point linked to young people, and essentially during festive times, no. Proof of this is that among the measures considered at that time, there was the generalization of teleworking. However, we realize that contamination is relatively low within companies.
There are scenarios that we can anticipate, but everyone is doing their best and must stick together.
Sports halls and gymnasiums are closed… except for school groups, extracurricular groups, minors, professional athletes and outdoor activities. “We do not know on which foot to dance”, say the managers. Do you understand that the measurements are not always readable? This is also what Anne Hidalgo says, in Paris …
In many places, we can question the consistency of measures. We had a conference of mayors Thursday evening in the metropolis, with the prefect. And the more we projected ourselves into concrete situations, the more we saw the limits, the side effects. Close gyms? The swimming pools? At the metropolitan scale? Departmental?
Yes, there are limits, but it is above all a matter of identifying risky situations and these concern confined spaces where a mask is not worn. However, by definition, in a bar wearing a mask is impossible. It’s the same when you play sports.
I am not saying that everything is perfectly coherent and anticipated. But when a framework is posed, it would be wrong to question it again. I prefer that we say to ourselves “we have 15 complicated days”; that all of this is binding on everyone; and in 15 days, we will reassess.
Of course, we want to hope that the constraints will ease. No one is satisfied with a lackluster social life. Wearing a mask, giving up activities, telling your members or employees that you are closing for 15 days… This is not pleasant for anyone. I know it’s rough. But let’s hold on and hope that we have to hold out for two weeks and no more.
It’s always complicated to take a step back with your nose in the handlebars. But do you have the feeling that this Covid marks the end of recess and of an enchanted parenthesis that would have lasted several decades?
Oh no, I want to see the Covid as a parenthesis and that it closes quickly to find this re-enchantment, which is the salt of our intellectual and collective life. We need moments of sharing and conviviality.
Yes, there are lessons to be learned, other crises to prepare … And we must relearn how to rely more on solidarity, as confinement has mounted. Afterwards, our society is fractured, I do not especially want to add divisions.
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