With nearly 15,000 coronavirus deaths, the French will have to stay locked up for four more weeks, but the deconfinement with which Emmanuel Macron laid the groundwork will take several months and the gradual reopening of schools from May 11 is not unanimous.
“The epidemic is starting to slow down” and “hope is reborn”, underlined the president during his speech Monday evening, while recognizing “flaws” and that France was “obviously not enough prepared “for the pandemic.
His “humility” is underlined by many columnists Tuesday, who also note the “hope” given to the French with the announcement of the “date of the keel”.
“No spring for the French. But a ray of hope, nevertheless,” said Laurent Joffrin in Liberation.
But “nothing is for granted,” warned the head of state.
According to a final report Monday evening, the coronavirus epidemic has killed 14,967 people in France, or 574 more since Sunday. 9,588 people died in hospitals (335 more in 24 hours) and 5,379 died in retirement homes and other medico-social establishments.
For the fifth consecutive day, the number of resuscitation patients also fell: 24 fewer patients since Sunday.
Surprise
Surprisingly, the president announced that from May 11, “nurseries, schools, colleges and high schools” would be reopened. But in higher education, “classes will not resume physically until the summer”.
However, bars and restaurants will remain closed. No major festivals or gatherings at least until mid-July and France’s borders with non-European countries “will remain closed until further notice”.
The employers declared themselves “satisfied” that the president “set a course to restart the country” from May 11, with the exception of the hotel and restaurant sector excluded from deconfinement.
Medef also hailed as “important” the “good news” on the extension until May 11 of aid for businesses, short-time working measures and solidarity funds for small businesses.
Gilles Le Gendre, boss of the deputies of the LREM majority, greeted on Twitter “milestones of deconfinement” to come which “reconcile health security, economic recovery and social justice”.
But the gradual reopening of schools immediately raised concerns and criticism among teachers.
“It is anything but serious to reopen schools on May 11 because we are told that all public places are closed, cinemas, theaters, but not schools when we know that it is a place high transmission, high contamination, there is a lack of precaution, it seems to be in total contradiction with the rest “, reacted Francette Popineau, secretary general of Snuipp-FSU, first primary union, to AFP.
Delicate
Deconfinement, already underway in some European countries, promises to be an infinitely delicate undertaking.
The operation could prove catastrophic if a system of massive tests and isolation of infected people was not put in place, according to a study carried out in particular by Inserm, which warns that “the lifting of confinement without a strategy of leaving would lead to a second wave, largely crushing the healthcare system. “
“Confinement is the only good measure. We are in the middle of the lookout. To deconfine too early is to be exposed to rebound, warned Christophe Rapp, infectiologist at the American hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, without rule on the date of May 11.
In opposition, the leader of the rebels Jean-Luc Mélenchon considered that “deconfinement without planning the conditions for deconfinement, it is extremely dangerous!”.
“Setting health guidelines on testing capacity is crazy,” said Julien Bayou, national secretary of EELV environmentalists.
The boss of the Republicans Christian Jacob estimated that “words will no longer be enough” and that, faced with the delay, “we must now anticipate the recovery of the economy sector by sector of activity”.
The head of state, who is under suspicion of opinion towards his management of the crisis, concluded by saying he was convinced that there will be “better days”. We must “reinvent ourselves, me first”, he said, in particular by going “off the beaten track” and “ideologies”.
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