“We really have the impression of being responsible for the rise in contamination rates”, reacted on franceinfo Pascal Duval, owner of the nightclub L’Excalibur in Grémonville (Seine-Maritime), after the announcement of new measures by Jean Castex and Olivier Véran to fight against Covid-19, including the closure of discos for four weeks.
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He says he is annoyed by this announcement. “Once again, we’re blaming ourselves, he gets carried away. We are told about the numbers that go up because of us but last year at the same time the numbers were already increasing and we were closed. It’s a little easy to get it all on our backs. “
“We also think of our employees because partial unemployment is good but everyone leaves feathers there. We had planned to spend the holidays other than what we are going to do there.”
Pascal Duval, nightclub ownerto franceinfo
Are the end of year celebrations a crucial time? “More or less, he judges, it’s not necessarily the most busy time, but people still want to take their mind off things, to keep partying. Today, we are the only ones to close. We really feel like we are responsible for the rise in contamination rates. “
“It feels like it’s a never-ending day. Nightclubs are still singled out, stigmatized”, reacted on franceinfo David Zenouda, president of Umih Nuit Paris Île-de-France, manager of seven establishments, including six in Paris and founder of the Restons Ouverts movement. “We are the only ones in the discotheques to ask for the identity document for the entry of our customers with the sanitary pass. So, here we do not understand.”
“We have not yet understood that in our establishments we respect health protocols, that we were at the cutting edge.”
David Zenouda, president of Umih Nuit Paris Île-de-Franceto franceinfo
The sector will be supported by the State, said Jean Castex. “It is the whole profession that must be helped because we lost the biggest month of the year.” The aid must be calculated on the basis “of the month of December 2019 because it was the most normal month for two years”, explained David Zenouda. “It is true that the aid has helped us but our objective is not to close.”
Four weeks of closures are announced, but professionals fear it will last longer. “We are told about four weeks, in the end it’s eight weeks, twelve weeks, last year it lasted four months.”