While some of our neighbors are resorting to containment to fight the epidemic rebound, France could prefer the soft way. A Health Defense Council is being held on Wednesday.
“The fifth wave is here», Warned Gabriel Attal, Wednesday, November 17, and France is no exception. For several weeks, the world and particularly Europe have been affected by a major epidemic rebound. Some countries have decided to respond drastically. This is the case of Austria, which has reconfigured its population since Monday, or the Netherlands, which now close their bars and restaurants at 8 p.m. Slovakia, for its part, decided to confine the unvaccinated, when Germany could decide in the coming days to isolate the inhabitants of certain particularly affected regions. To effectively face this fifth wave, the French government is meeting Wednesday in the health defense council. Several measures could be announced at its end.
A third dose of vaccine for everyone?
The booster dose currently only concerns people over 65 years of age or at risk, as well as caregivers. It will be necessary to extend their health pass from December 15. But it could even go even faster: Monday, during the Day of the Order of Pharmacists in Paris, Jean-François Delfraissy revealed that the Scientific Council had “pushed“So that the third dose is conditioned to the sanitary pass”from the middle of next week“. According to him, this measure will be “ announced the day after tomorrow “, Namely Wednesday in the Council of Ministers. For 50-64 year olds, the recall will be offered from December 1. Emmanuel Macron had announced it on November 9, without waiting for the opinion of the High Authority for Health (HAS), responsible for inspiring the policy of the executive on these issues.
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But the government could go further, quickly expanding it to all adults. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we gradually moved towards vaccination booster shots for all adults who have been vaccinated, that’s the meaning of the story.“, Let loose the Head of State on Friday, November 19, during a trip to the North. The Scientific Council and the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council recommend it in any case. According to them, expanding the recall to all adults could help “curb the epidemic and reduce the number of severe forms“. The COSV, chaired by immunologist Alain Fischer, is the first to have said so, in an opinion dated Friday. In another opinion dated Saturday and made public on Monday, the Scientific Council, chaired by Jean-François Delfraissy, supports this hypothesis.
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An expansion of teleworking?
In its latest opinion, the Scientific Council also pushes for a “expansion of teleworking“. The Minister of Labor, Élisabeth Borne, preferred to call on companies on Monday to “re-mobilize” on the respect of barrier gestures and in particular the wearing of a mask, in order to be able to face the fifth wave of Covid-19 by avoiding “stronger constraints“. Asked about a possible tightening of the rules on teleworking if the situation deteriorates, she remained evasive, indicating that it was not possible “to exclude in principle answers for the future“. In an interview with 20 minutes given on November 16, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran was just as cautious, referring to a tool “which we used when it was necessary” and that “is one of the measures that we could mobilize“. Corn “we are not there yet today», He clarified.
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The government indeed seems cautious at the idea of returning to the telework box, in particular for fear that this measure will reinforce the isolation of workers or the loss of link. “The day when theaters, restaurants and shopping centers will be closed, with 100% teleworking, is not in sight“, Moreover recently confided a ministerial adviser to the Parisian .
Reimpose the wearing of the mask?
In its last opinion delivered to the government on November 20, the Scientific Council also advised to “maintain and strengthen barrier gestures, individual and collective […] especially wearing a mask», While asking his«reintroduction in some places“. Many departments have already taken the plunge. In the Haut-Rhin, for example, the mask will be compulsory on all Christmas markets. In Loire-Atlantique, it has once again become the norm in places subject to the sanitary pass. In the Côtes-d’Armor, it remains mandatory outdoors for all pedestrians over the age of 11, until December 31, 2021. In total, some 28 departments have reinstated the wearing of masks in different ways.
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This is therefore one of the solutions that the government could consider at the national level, even if no clue has yet been given on this subject. As a reminder, the mask is compulsory again in primary school since November 15. It will also be required from the age of 11 this winter for the ski lifts of ski resorts.
The return to gauges in places at risk?
On November 16, on France Inter, government spokesman Gabriel Attal explained that there was “no reason to think“Today that the end of year celebrations are tarnished by gauges as in 2020. But”the immunity conferred by the vaccine must continue and therefore eligible French people have their vaccination booster», He had underlined. The government could nevertheless be tempted to return to these gauges in theaters or sports to limit the circulation of the virus.
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In anticipation, the festival of Trans musicales of Rennes announced that only 75% of the places of its next edition, from 1er as of December 5, would go on sale for the time being, as reported West France . “If the health situation finally allows the gauges to be kept at 11% until the festival, and unless the competent authorities are ordered to do so, we will put the remaining 25% of places on sale on Monday, November 29 at the latest, and before if possible.», Clarified the festival.
No containment in sight
Unlike some of its neighbors, France does not seem inclined, for the time being, to resort to the confinement of its population, to fight against the fifth wave. Several government statements point in this direction. In We are live, on France 2, on November 14, Gabriel Attal assured that “for the moment, it is absolutely out of the question to talk about re-containment in our country, because we have a very high vaccination rate», Stressing on the other hand that he«never exclude anything on principle“. On November 16, on France Inter, the government spokesperson had made more or less the same words: “There is absolutely no containment that is planned today, neither near nor far“. As on France 2, he nevertheless repeated that “never exclude anything in principle“. The same day, in an interview given to 20 minutes , the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had also swept this hypothesis: “We are clearly not there yet. Under the current conditions of circulation of the virus, […] confinement would be disproportionate“.
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