- Menton is the first French city after the Italian border, bordering Liguria.
- In this town in the Alpes-Maritimes, pharmacies no longer have respiratory masks in stock.
- The Lemon Festival festivities are not threatened at the moment.
"Masques en rupture", "Maschere terminate". On the storefronts of pharmacies in Menton, we prefer to advertise the color directly, including in Italian: pharmacies have been robbed. "We have nothing left," confirms in one of them a manager visibly annoyed by the comings and goings of journalists since nearby Italy is facing an increase in cases of new Coronavirus.
Yet in the streets of Menton, the first city in France after the border, full of tourists on the occasion of the 87th edition of the Lemon Festival, the psychosis was not really palpable. It was even very difficult to meet these famous mask wearers on Monday. Despite two good hours spent surveying the town.
“I try to buy some to put them when I am in Ventimiglia [the town which adjoins Menton on the Italian side] where I work. Here, I don't yet feel the need for it, ”explained Fabrice, coming out of a pharmacy. This may explain this.
"Some people may think that the virus will stop at the border"
The two cities are however neighboring. "Some may think that the virus will stop at the border," said Claire, crossed at the exit of the Menton station. She is there alone that 20 Minutes will have seen with a mask plated on the face.
"I just don't want to get sick," says the former medical intern. In Asia, it is a completely banal act, I do not understand that we are not more numerous to use it here. I find the French government far too lax against this virus. Monday, the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes announced the implementation of sanitary measures against the Coronavirus but no reinforced controls at the border.
The Lemon Festival maintained "for the moment"
Neither the cancellation of the festivities, and in particular the Lemon Festival, "for the moment". "It is maintained for the next weekend, but may be subject to cancellation if the health situation deteriorates," said the town hall of Menton.
In the meantime, visitors continue to stroll through the "garden of lights", the space where the citrus-covered floats are on display. "I'm not afraid, I prefer to enjoy my stay," says Stella, who came straight from London with her family.
State services in the department do not yet report confirmed cases, after three suspicions dismissed Monday. "As part of the monitoring of the Covid-2019 coronavirus and as part of their cross-border relations, the prefects of Imperia [the bordering province, in Liguria] and of the Alpes-Maritimes agreed to keep each other informed" and "at this stage , no confirmed case has been identified "on one side as on the other, said the Riviera prefecture this Tuesday morning.
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