Jean-François Delfraissy in January 2021. -

Thomas SAMSON / AFP

It's an almost impossible choice.

The decisions that the government will have to take in the face of the progression of the Covid-19 raise a question of "generational policy", estimated Thursday the president of the scientific council Jean-François Delfraissy, who is worried about the "mental health" of young people .

For the president of the scientific council, who makes recommendations to the government on the coronavirus epidemic, "we are really" facing "a quasi-ethical question of generational policy, between continuing to preserve the health of the oldest, but perhaps to the detriment of the health of the youngest ”.

Without going so far as to talk about third confinement, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Thursday evening that there was a "consensus" with elected officials for "additional measures", while Olivier Véran fears " an epidemic within the epidemic ”with variants of the virus.

Find a balance

"We are very sensitive" to this question because "the health issues are not the only ones" in the eyes of the scientific council, he assured, during a public hearing before the Parliamentary Office for the evaluation of scientific choices and technological (Opecst, chaired by ex-LREM deputy Cédric Villani).

“At the moment, the intensive care units are not full: we can clearly see the tension that there can be between a health vision to avoid a tragedy in March, and paying attention to the mental health of the youngest and to the acceptability in the population ”, insisted the doctor.

The challenge for the authorities is to “build a balance”.

Delfraissy in the same position for schools

Faced with the more contagious variants of the Covid-19 virus, "we are in a hurry", he reiterated, but "do not confuse urgency in a week, and extreme urgency in two or three days, on decisions as complex as redefining ”.

"Let's take the time to intelligently construct the least bad answer".

Asked about schools, Professor Delfraissy said "remain for the moment on his position" not to close them, because children are not "a transmission factor particularly involved" in the spread of new variants of the virus.

“If we see what happened at European level, half of the countries have chosen to close schools, the other half to keep them” open, he noted.

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