A passer-by in Nice (illustrative image).

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VALERY HACHE / AFP

  • Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes coast, the most affected department in France, will be strictly confined for at least two weekends.

  • The announcement of territorialized confinement, in force since February 5 in Mayotte, is a first in metropolitan France.

  • Other departments, such as Moselle, had already called for local containment, but the government had always refused so far.

An unprecedented measure at the local level.

Faced with the surge in cases of contamination and the saturation of hospitals in the Alpes-Maritimes, new local restrictions were announced on Monday, including confinement for the next two weekends in Nice and the coast of the department.

From the weekend, the inhabitants of the coast stretching from Théoule-sur-Mer to Menton, an area which brings together about 90% of the population of the department, will be confined from Friday evening, 6 p.m., to Monday morning, 6 a.m. .

As during the first confinement a year ago, one-hour outings will be authorized, but within a radius of 5 kilometers, with a certificate.

This is a real territorial confinement therefore, which contrasts with the national strategy hitherto favored by the executive.

The start of a revolution in French health decisions?

A situation specific to the Alpes-Maritimes

Before the Alpes-Maritimes, other departments had called for similar measures.

Moselle, where the incidence rate exceeds 300, is also facing an outbreak of contaminations, linked in particular to the variant which appeared in South Africa.

Last week, the trail of confinement or a curfew hardened at the weekend was mentioned, before being dismissed by the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran.

The same goes for Dunkirk, which observed a very high rate of the English variant.

“The situation in the Grand-Est and in the North is different from that of Nice, it is not an epidemic outbreak, it is a large number of variants.

In Nice, we can really speak of an epidemic rebound.

Hospital services are saturated, they no longer had room for maneuver, ”said Martin Blachier, epidemiologist and public health doctor.

If such measures have been taken, it is above all that the health situation is particularly worrying in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Hospital services are "close to saturation", underlines Romain Alexandre, the representative of the ARS, this Monday, with an incidence rate of 556 per 100,000 inhabitants in the department, "the highest in France", against 197 on average nationwide.

The positivity rate, for its part, is "clearly increasing in all age groups except for those over 80".

Avoid national re-containment

Why such a difference in treatment?

Because of the “attractiveness” of the department, especially during school holidays, according to LR mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi.

The ski lifts being closed, many French people have chosen to take advantage of the spring mildness of the Alpes-Maritimes.

“There has been an influx of people in the department since the start of the holidays, which inevitably creates diversity.

These places have become places at risk, ”explains Martin Blachier, for whom the figures should fall naturally at the end of the holidays.

By authorizing local re-containment in the Alpes-Maritimes, the executive may well have decided to radically change its strategy by stopping to favor national measures.

"There is indeed a form of territorialization, we will perhaps leave more room for maneuver to local elected officials, they are the ones who are in direct contact with their population, who are the most able to find suitable solutions", recognizes Marie-Aline Bloch, researcher in management sciences at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP).

But for the specialist, impossible to let each department do its own thing: “We must adapt the measures according to the situations of each territory, but keeping in mind the national problem, since there are flows between regions.

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For Martin Blachier, the idea is to confine locally to avoid reconfining nationally.

“By accepting local containment, the message is simple.

Emmanuel Macron has no desire to go back to national confinement.

He prefers to let go of regionalization than to add national restrictions, ”decrypts the researcher, who believes that other departments could get the green light from the executive in the coming weeks.

It is "fundamental to be able to make decisions at the right time when we see that there is a health situation which is under tension", recognized Olivier Véran, this Monday in Villefranche-sur-Saône, opening the door to other departments.

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