In the News: under the threat of a third wave ...

Audio 04:26

A man is tested for Covid-19 at a screening center in Bagneux in the Paris region on January 11, 2021 (illustrative image).

© Christophe Ena / AP

By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

9 min

Publicity

“ 

Dunkirk re-defined at weekends

 ”: this is the front page of

La Voix du Nord

.

After the Côte d'Azur, it is therefore a part of the north of France which is experiencing new partial restrictions.

Objective: to limit the spread of Covid and its variants.

And there is an emergency, exclaims

Liberation

.

"" The situation is very worrying in ten departments ",

insisted yesterday the spokesman of the government Gabriel Attal.

According to Public Health France, Provence-Alpes-Côte-D'azur, Mayotte, Saint-Barthélemy, Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France and Moselle, record incidence rates of more than 250 cases per

100,000 inhabitants.

 "

Why us ?

Suddenly, continues

Liberation

, “ 

France is feverishly suspended at the prospect of a third wave linked to variants.

 "From now on," 

5% of the tests taken on the territory would correspond to a suspicion of South African or Brazilian variants, which concern their ability to partially bypass the defenses of the immune system.

But it is the British variant that occupies everyone's mind: it represents 36% of the tests.

And it could become the majority from the end of February or the beginning of March. 

"

So, asks

Liberation

, “ 

why us, when the curve is down sharply in the world average?

Nobody knows.

 "What is certain, the newspaper continues, is that" 

only a well-organized vaccination campaign against Covid-19 could save future victims.

But as the European Union started very late, victim of a fixation on the purchase price contrary to all the talk of

"whatever the cost",

the authorities are obliged to do with the means at hand. , which we prefer to call

"braking measures".

Local confinements, therefore, and national curfew at 6 p.m.

 "

Weariness and… hope?

And " 

a year after the outbreak in France of the coronavirus, weariness is perceptible in the face of the pandemic

, points out

La Croix.

In recent days, the premature arrival of spring weather has fueled the desire for a return to normal life.

In one year, the French have internalized the rules of distancing that reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.

But the appearance of more contagious variants therefore requires greater vigilance.

(…)

Progress remains to be made

, continues

La Croix, to hope to get out of this semi-liberty regime without too much delay.

In particular, it would be necessary to be able to detect variants of the coronavirus faster and to speed up the vaccination of the population.

Here too, the solution undoubtedly involves the involvement of local actors, in particular those of the health system.

General practitioners, pharmacists, liberal nurses mesh the territory.

They could be valuable relays. 

"

Despite everything, “ 

let's keep hope

, sighs

Le Parisien

.

Warming temperatures and the accelerating vaccination campaign should curb the epidemic.

Israel is, from this point of view, an encouraging model.

But we will probably have to go through a rotten March first.

 "

These forgotten French people ...

Le Figaro

dwells this morning on " 

these forgotten French people whose life is at a standstill

 ", due to the pandemic.

Le Figaro

who paints several poignant portraits: “

This lyrical singer who left the Vienna Opera in Austria to become a bicycle delivery man in Blois;

this animal tamer who had to sell his truck and his generator to feed his animals;

this guide-lecturer forced to give up his passion in order to be able to eat;

or this restaurateur whose employees, partially unemployed for a year, can no longer be inactive ... Enterprising, dynamic, inventive and courageous, all want to believe in getting out of the tunnel, but despite their efforts, they have become the victims of a mechanism that goes beyond them.

 "

So, “ 

rebellious?

 “Asks

Le Figaro

.

“ 

No, in the grip of a deep weariness

, underlines the Cevipof in its last annual study on the state of mind of the French.

This evening, once again, Jean Castex should speak.

The figures are not good

(therefore),

the situation is deteriorating, and already the information system is racing, the

"confiners" are

jubilant: we will have to close double.

This would be leaving aside once again the forgotten of the turn of the screw

, plague

Le Figaro

.

They are not asking, these reasonable people, to take precedence over the medical emergency imposed by a pandemic;

they just want to be included in decisions they pay a heavy price for.

France is not just a hospital;

it is the duty of the politician to remember it. 

"

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