In a column published by Le Monde, two economists who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2019, Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, who are also husband and wife in the city, believe that reconfirming the French during the first twenty days of December would make it possible to avoid contamination during family gatherings at Christmas.

"A collective effort to save Christmas": Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, two economists who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2019, proposed Saturday confinement in December in France to allow Christmas to be celebrated with the family.

The two Nobel, married in the city, ask to "decree a confinement in all the territory for the period of Advent, from December 1 to 20" in a column published Saturday by

Le Monde

.

This "clear, uniform and transparent" solution aims to limit contamination during family gatherings, and in particular those of the elderly, the most affected by the disease, defend the two authors.

They claim that "the educational cost would be very low," with the cancellation or holding online the last two weeks of classes of the calendar year.

The economic cost would be less "important" than that of "canceling Christmas", or a more drastic re-containment a few weeks later due to contamination during the end of year celebrations.

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Promote Christmas shopping during the fall

"Christmas shopping could be encouraged during the month of November", develop the couple.

Otherwise, the rise in contaminations observed in France for several weeks could force the government to re-contain, or even to “ban travel and family reunions” during Christmas.

Especially since the authors do not imagine from "this autumn" the generalization "of cheap" and "really easy to access" tests which would make it possible to identify much more quickly the carriers of the virus, and to place them in quarantine.

The French government announced new restrictions on Wednesday to fight the spread of Covid-19.

Twelve agglomerations have been placed in "enhanced alert zone", which implies in particular the closing of bars from 10 pm.

Gatherings are also limited to 1,000 people.

These measures were contested by local elected officials, in particular those of Marseille.