Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and the Minister of Health and Solidarity, Olivier Véran presented Sunday evening the first tracks of the deconfinement strategy from May 11.
No return to normal “for a long time”
The French will not find “immediately and probably not for a long time” their “life before”, warned Édouard Philippe by presenting “the main rules” which should lead to deconfinement from May 11. “We are not out of the health crisis,” the Prime Minister again warned.
Resumption of family visits in nursing homes
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced the reestablishment “from” Monday of “visiting rights for families” in nursing homes, under “extremely limited” conditions. “This very supervised visitation right may apply under the same conditions for establishments which this time welcome people with disabilities”, specified the Minister.
“It will be at the request of the resident, it will be under extremely limited conditions, as you can imagine, no more than two members of the family (…), it will be under the responsibility of the directors of establishments who will have to tell the family when it is possible and under what conditions ”, enumerated Olivier Véran. He added “the continued impossibility of going to touch the person, of being in physical contact”.
What future for businesses after May 11?
Édouard Philippe called for the continuation of teleworking after May 11 “to the extent possible”.
“And then when it is not possible, and there is a lot of activity where it is not at all possible to telework, it will be necessary that the rules of organization of the company respect these measures of barrier and social distancing gestures, ”he added.
Businesses currently closed due to the health crisis will not be able to reopen from May 11 unless they enforce “barrier gestures” and take “social distancing” measures.
“Whatever the business in question”, queues must be organized to respect a minimum distance of one meter between customers, and measures such as the provision of hydro-alcoholic gel “must be implemented ”, Specified the Prime Minister, excluding cafes and restaurants whose activity“ does not initially limit the circulation of the virus ”.
Schools: reopening “by territory” or “by half of class” under study
The government is considering in particular reopening schools “by territory”, starting with the areas least affected by Covid-19, or “by half of class” in view of the start of deconfinement scheduled for May 11, announced Édouard. Philippe.
“We must work on all the assumptions”, explained the Prime Minister, specifying that there was “no decision at this stage”. Mayors and teachers' unions will be involved in the deconfinement plan currently being drawn up by the government, he said.
“In some departments, there have been almost no cases and we can consider that after two months of confinement, this situation will be preserved”, explained the Prime Minister. “One can imagine that in these territories, the opening is done more quickly and in a broader way than where the situation is more complicated.”
The Prime Minister also put forward a third hypothesis: “The use of the premises in a different way by using spaces larger than simple classes to teach”.
Objective 500 tests per week for deconfinement
The government's objective is to be able to carry out 500 tests per week from deconfinement for people with symptoms and those who have been in contact with a Covid-000 patient, said the Minister of Health.
After May 11, “if you are carrying symptoms (…) and you want to know if you are sick, or if you have been in close contact with a person who is known to be sick, you can will benefit from this virological test ”, assured Oliver Véran, indicating that these tests could be carried out in the laboratories of city, the hospitals, but also in“ drive ”on car parks.
Once a positive case has been identified, a “mechanism” will be set in motion to warn the infected person, but also to do “tracing”, that is to say to identify and warn people who have been in close contact with the patient.
Soon 17 million “general public” masks produced in France per week
France will soon produce “17 million” “general public” masks per week, with the aim of being able to “equip the French who so wish,” said Olivier Véran. “Eight million masks were produced last week in our country and we expect to produce around 17 million masks per week in France,” he said.
These masks, called “general public”, “meet standards (…) filter droplets that contain the virus” and “we know that they guarantee an interesting level of effectiveness”.
For their distribution, the Minister considered “a priming by the State” and considered that it would be “very important to work with the mayors, why not with the large distribution”.
Towards an obligation to wear a mask in transport
“It is likely, with regard to public transport, that it is compulsory to use them to wear a general public mask” after May 11, said Édouard Philippe.
“As soon as we are going to gradually carry out confinements, our fellow citizens will find themselves in configurations where the density will obviously be much greater (in public transport), so we must study the barrier gestures and the distancing which is likely to be implemented ”, he continued.
Municipal: no certainty on the date of the second round
Édouard Philippe, affirmed “not to know” if the second round of the elections could be held at the end of June, whereas the Minister of the Cohesion of the territories had estimated a few hours earlier that it would be held “surely after the summer”.
“The law that was passed by Parliament on March 23 provided for a system in which on May 23 - not before, not after - we will say whether the elections for the 2nd round of municipal elections can be held at the end of June ”, Recalled the head of government.
Summer holidays abroad: “not reasonable”
The Prime Minister has prepared the French for a summer vacation still in the shadow of the coronavirus. “Can we book a house, a rental, a camping place or a hotel in July or August in France or abroad? I fear that it is not reasonable to imagine traveling far abroad very quickly, ”he said.
He also expressed doubts about “the conditions of entry or re-entry into the national territory” which will certainly be “quite demanding vis-à-vis those arriving from abroad”, in the context of a pandemic. “So it seems to me at this point, maybe still a little unreasonable”, he added, promising however to say more “when the time comes”.
6,059 total views
No comments