Gathered in the Jardin de l’Arquebuse in Dijon in Côte-d’Or, the participants claim the right not to wear the mask outside and advocate a return to normal social life.
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They were more than 60 to have shared a picnic at the botanical garden of l’Arquebuse in Dijon this Saturday, March 27. A grouping to proclaim the freedom to choose to wear the mask or not and to affirm the need to rediscover social ties. Several associations and collectives including Reinfo Covid were at the initiative of this gathering.
“We are in a situation where there is a unique discourse that is very anxiety-provoking, exposes Doctor Claire Gallon, general practitioner in Asnières-les-Dijon (Côte d’Or), spokesperson for the collective. We want to say that it is possible to manage the crisis differently “.
Too harsh sanitary measures
The practitioner then points to the wearing of the mask outside, responsible for instilling fear between individuals. “Today, you have to be afraid of the other and even of yourself for the other. This fear is unbearable. You have to let go of that”, she pleads.
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Renewing a social practice and breaking through isolation is what many participants came to seek. “We are each in our corner. We no longer know that we are connected, that we exist together. It is not only a picnic, it is also a way of finding links, of knowing that ‘we exist together “, says Catherine.
I no longer see cases of Covid as a doctor, but I see people in distress, in isolation, in job loss, in anguish.
If the Côte-d’Or has an incidence rate lower than that of France (147 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the department, against 325 cases per 100,000 inhabitants throughout the territory), hospitals are seeing an increase patient care. In total, 211 people were hospitalized in Côte-d’Or this Friday, March 26, six more than Thursday.
They dispute the official figures
Figures that some demonstrators present this Saturday noon dispute, such as Michèle: “I do not believe the official information at all. We know that the figures are false, greatly increased.”
For many, the coronavirus would kill fewer people than at the height of the pandemic. As a reminder, 803 people have died from Covid since the start of the epidemic in Côte-d’Or. A death was recorded this Friday in the department.
“We are clearly on a seasonal epidemic, which risks returning every year, with a mortality almost equivalent to that of the flu. The problem is only a saturation of hospitals”, says the spokesperson for Reinfo Covid.
They deem this gathering safe
A group gathering without a mask, despite the ban on gathering more than 6 outside. This Tuesday, March 23, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, asked the regional prefects to be more severe in the sanctions against those who could violate health measures.
“Why 6 people maximum? Why not 5? Why not 7? Where did it come from 6, what is the scientific study? There is none! What is the scientific study on masks on the outside? There are not any !”, answers Claire Gallon.
There is no danger in what we are doing. We are just in joy, sharing, simplicity. And that is actually positive.
All the participants thus feel that they are not taking any risk by gathering this Saturday noon. “We have to show that we are not dangerous. The virus is not transmitted that easily, you really need very close contact. You have to meet people who are already sick with symptoms”, Michèle advances.
The prefecture explains not to have authorized a gathering that it judges “irresponsible” in the current health context.
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