Faced with the increase in contamination due to Covid-19, the prefecture of Savoie took new restrictive measures in the ski resorts of the department on Saturday, December 25. This involves in particular the obligation to wear a mask outdoors or the ban on consuming alcohol on public roads after 4 p.m. In total, 38 stations are concerned, including that of La Plagne Tarentaise.
Its mayor said Saturday on franceinfo to welcome “positively” these restrictions, “if it allows us to remain open”. Jean-Luch Boch ensures that the health protocol already established in the stations is “rather well applied” and that seasonal workers who test positive for Covid-19 are isolated. He also calls for mass vaccination, so as not to relive the same period as last year, when the stations were closed.
franceinfo: How do you view these measures taken by the prefecture?
Jean-Luch Boch: Positively, if that allows us to remain open and continue with vacationers, because they come in droves. There are a lot of French people who take their holidays in the mountains, given that it is one of the rare places where you can go with health security. It should be remembered that specific health protocols have been adapted for all stations in France. We hope to do everything so that holidaymakers who are lucky enough to come and see us benefit a little.
In recent days, have you noticed a certain relaxation of barrier gestures, on the slopes or near the ski lifts?
No, not at all, because there is a specific protocol. To ski today in France you must have a valid sanitary pass as there are random checks at the ski lifts and you must wear a mask in the queues, inside the gondolas and on the chairlifts. All of this is pretty well applied. In shopping malls or inside chalets, groupings are avoided. But I think that the French and the internationals who can still come and see us know this by heart. The fact of enforcing all these restrictions reassures them somewhere.
Does the wave due to the Omicron variant sometimes disrupt the activity of seasonal workers?
I’m not going to tell you that the situation is very easy going. It is complicated. Yes, there are confirmed cases of illness at the stations and contact cases. We do everything to isolate them and move them away, while waiting for these people to be healed. So far, it works.
Are restaurant owners and bar managers responding to these restrictions as well as you?
When we lived through a dark period like the previous season, during which we could not open, when we know the cost of closing ski lifts and stations, we know very well that the government will not be able to compensate the height of the losses. So do not expect miracles. At some point, you have to work, and to work, you have to live with Covid-19 and the barrier gestures that are inevitable. We must all be vaccinated, it will be necessary to go through it. Let us stop putting hospitals and the medical world in difficulty, because it cannot go on like this forever.