Every morning, Nicolas Beytout analyzes political news and gives us his opinion.

This Friday, he returns to the new failure of the government in the face of the second wave of Coronavirus.

After the failure of the masks, that of the PCR tests.

Olivier Véran therefore spoke again this Thursday at a press conference, to announce a new strategy in the fight against Covid.

It was time to correct the trajectory.

We were indeed going into the wall.

Since last Easter, since the establishment of the famous "test-tracer-treat" trilogy, France has embarked on a gigantic catching-up of its delay in testing.

Numerical targets were assigned, then gradually raised to 1.2 million per week.

It was necessary to "test-test-test" as the government rehashed it, which, it is true, applied the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

Well done, we reached the podium for the best countries in terms of the number of weekly tests.

Well done, but it's almost useless.

We test, but we have to wait days and sometimes weeks before being removed and having the result, positive or negative.

We did the figures, but we forgot to take care of what happened after the sample.


This is precisely what the Minister of Health corrected on Thursday by promising shorter queues and tests with almost instantaneous results.

Yes, after being put under great pressure by Emmanuel Macron.

After the failure of the masks, this winter is indeed a new government bug in the fight against the epidemic.

You remember the inglorious episodes on the usefulness of masks (they were useless and we did not know how to use them when we did not have them; and then one day, they became indispensable and obligatory).

For the tests, same scenario: at the start of the epidemic, we should not be tested;

and then it became free and accessible to all.

With the tail before and the wait after.

Second wave, second failure.

And where did it "bug"?

Where does the dysfunction come from?

It is a magnificent cocktail of French shortcomings: too many standards, not enough flexibility in the choice and origin of the tests, a rigidity imposed on the analytical laboratory sector, an administration that is too slow, and then the total free admission of the tests. tests, too, which is the strength and weakness of the French social model.

I add, and I think it is quite alarming, that Emmanuel Macron had to get involved.

It is centralization à la française.

Yes, but that poses a lot of questions.

First, let us remember, Jean Castex was appointed to Matignon with the promise of being an ace of execution, a champion of concrete politics.

Not won.

And then, more fundamentally, was the President the only one to see the queues in front of the labs?

Did no one in the majority understand that this image nourished in public opinion an impression of failure?

You see, it looks furiously like the problem of delinquency: we are given reassuring figures, but the feeling of insecurity is growing.

We are reassured with millions of tests, but the feeling in the opinion does not follow.

No doubt, the majority still have work to do to get closer to the field.