What's new: the coronavirus is spreading in France

Audio 00:04

By: Norbert Navarro

Publicity

The contagion is indeed progressing. The number of cases of coronavirus infection that left China had more than doubled last night in France. And to believe the predictions of certain French newspapers, such as La Presse de la Manche , for example, the epidemic is " before us ". Be careful, warns this daily newspaper in the northwest of the country, " what is happening in Italy where it is absolutely necessary to isolate certain cities, can lead us to quarantine entire regions ".

Yes, confirms the newspaper Le Courrier Picard , the slow contagion of Covid-19 around the world seems " inevitable ". And this daily newspaper in north-central France underlines the “ urgency ” of the moment, that of “ managing an acceleration of the disease in France. Particularly for this government with a worrying health check , ”remarked Le Courrier Picard in passing.

All continents are now affected, this spread of the virus leads the daily Le Figaro to point " the risk of a global economic crisis ". This is what economists call " a black swan ", reports this newspaper, that is to say " an unpredictable event, which upsets the established order, with incalculable consequences. Fallen like lightning over China, the coronavirus has already caused the Asian giant, who was believed to be invulnerable , to kneel down , worries Le Figaro. He is now spreading panic to the four corners of the planet, where he spreads the poison of uncertainty. "

And then, it was foreseeable, this anxiety-provoking " contagion " pushes certain personalities to publicly express their fears:

Witness Florent Manaudou. Olympic champion in the 50m freestyle at the London 2012 Olympics, the French swimmer, Coronavirus obliges, wonders whether or not he will participate in the next Tokyo Olympic Games this summer. " I think of my health first ," he told L'Équipe. […] An event like the Games is the perfect opportunity for the virus to spread . […] I am not sure that organizing the Games is the best solution to eradicate the virus ”, declared Florent Manaudou to the French sports daily.

As the newspaper L'Est Républicain points out , the coronavirus has “ invaded people's minds. […] We thus pass from the Teeth of the Sea or Ghostbusters to Alien, even to the Exorcist. "

The Cesar ceremony under tension

If it were a film, its title could be Nerves à vives. The awards ceremony for French cinema, Salle Pleyel in Paris, is far from being a celebration.

As Le Parisien sums it up, " between the Polanski affair, the controversies over parity or diversity on the screen and its own governance crisis, the 45th Cesar ceremony crystallizes all the tensions of the moment within French cinema ".

Alas yes, sighs Liberation, the big family of French cinema is " decomposed ", after a " campaign of big laundry detergent " within its governing bodies. Accused of rape, the filmmaker Roman Polanski, who denies these accusations, and whose film J'accuse, is a dozen times in the running for the César 2020, announced that he would not come, saying he was the victim of " public lynching ”from a“ self-appointed opinion court ”.

Admittedly, " we can also find that Adèle Haenel exaggerates somewhat by saying that to give a distinction to Polanski ", " would amount to spitting in the face of all the victims ", estimates the newspaper L'Alsace . But we can see on which dangerous slope this reasoning can drag us: " if we start to burn the works of all the artists who have behaved badly in their personal lives, our libraries and our cinematheques will find themselves very empty and we will will be deprived of many masterpieces, ”warns this daily in the east of the country.

So who will win tonight? The newspaper Le Midi Libre begins to dream that the " winner is " Roman Polanski! " If the brilliant director wins over the twelve nominations from the film J'accuse , imagine the ambient fury !" On feminist social networks, we're going to be overflowing with insults, ”he predicted.

But it is not only Polanski, the crisis goes " far beyond ," says L'Humanité . Adèle Haenel, herself named César for best actress . […] Broke the chain of silence in France by revealing what she had suffered from director Christophe Ruggia. Since then, the world of cinema has been in turmoil, ”notes the hot communist daily.

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• France