As the fifth wave of the coronavirus continues its meteoric rise in France, what will December 31st be like? To try to stop the epidemic, a health defense council is to be held this Monday, December 27. Emmanuel Macron will chair this videoconference council from Brégançon from 4 p.m. The executive must discuss new, more restrictive measures.
No curfew
The holidays are a risky period, because of the promiscuity of family reunions or evenings to wish each other a Happy New Year. The idea of a curfew, especially long-term as was the case last winter, will be studied this afternoon, but the measure does not seem to be favored. According to information from franceinfo, at this stage there is no question of imposing a curfew on New Year’s Eve, this Friday, the government not wishing to impose this unpopular measure. It is even considered insufficient by the epidemiologist Dominique Costagliola: “It’s not a one-day curfew that will change the dynamics of the epidemic. If this measurement is taken, it will be a display measurement“, she declared on Monday on France Inter.
The government has said to ask mayors and prefects to avoid any gathering at the end of the year and thus cancel the planned festivities.
No postponement of the start of the school year
According to information from our colleagues at Franceinfo, the government does not plan to postpone the start of the school year by one week. Several health professionals and epidemiologists call for a postponement, fearing an upsurge in contamination among 6-10 year olds after the school holidays. The Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer has several times brushed aside this measure.
Return of the mask outdoors
The prefects should be invited to make the mask mandatory again outdoors in the event of a crowd or in the center of large cities, if the departmental indicators of the epidemic require them to do so. Some prefectures have already taken the lead. This is particularly the case in Savoie where new restrictions have been imposed in the face of the influx of tourists to ski resorts. Faced with a deterioration in the health situation, the Loiret has made wearing a mask compulsory near shopping centers, in queues or in markets.
Relax isolation rules
If further binding measures seem inevitable, this is largely due to the Omicron variant, which spreads at high speed especially among young people. Contamination could experience significant increases after the end of the year holidays, and in particular Christmas and the New Year. This December 25 alone, more than 100,000 positive cases were identified, a level that had never been reached in France.
More transmissible than the Delta variant, it promises an exponential number of contact cases. This makes the Scientific Council fear paralysis of the country. Several companies, including SNCF and airlines, are facing an increase in absenteeism among their employees. To avoid such a situation, the government asked the authority to review the isolation rules.
Currently, contact cases of people infected with the Omicron variant must isolate themselves for seven days, even 17 days if they live with the infected person. These rules could thus be relaxed: the authorities are considering a tolerance for contact cases with a complete vaccination schedule.
In the current situation, the hospital cannot function, Bruno Mégarbane
The infectious disease specialist Benjamin Rossi notably pleaded this Monday on France 2 for a decrease in “the duration of sick leave linked to contact cases“. According to this doctor at the Robert Ballanger Hospital Center (Seine-Saint-Denis), this would”recover some caregivers who have been stopped“and to relieve the nursing teams, overwhelmed and understaffed. As in many companies, the hospital is struck by a wave of absenteeism due to contaminated staff or contact cases. Faced with this problem, the head of the intensive care unit of the Lariboisière hospital, Bruno Mégarbane, suggests, on franceinfo, to work “some infected and asymptomatic caregivers” in “areas dedicated to the care of covid patients“In his hospital, 3 out of 18 beds are closed due to staff infected with covid-19.
The government must also study the return of gauges in theaters or the sale of self-tests in supermarkets, which several large brands have been asking for several months.
At the end of this health defense council, an exceptional Council of Ministers must also be held, around 5 p.m. The executive must adopt the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass.