Sixteen French departments will be reconfigured this Friday evening at midnight for a minimum period of four weeks, with the closure of non-essential businesses and travel restrictions.
The government hopes that at the end of this period, the number of new vaccinations and the arrival of the beautiful days will make it possible to approach the rest with more optimism.
DECRYPTION
A third of the French will be re-confined this Friday at midnight for at least four weeks, with travel restrictions, the closure of non-essential businesses, but the maintenance of schools open.
This is the decision announced this Thursday evening by Prime Minister Jean Castex in the face of the surge of the Covid-19 epidemic.
In total, 16 departments will experience new "massive braking measures": the eight departments of Ile-de-France, the five departments of Hauts-de-France as well as Seine-Maritime, Eure and the Alpes-Maritimes.
But what goals do the authorities hope to achieve in four weeks?
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10 million people at risk vaccinated
Already, if all goes as planned, in four weeks, 10 million people will have received their first dose of the vaccine.
This corresponds to the majority of people most at risk, those who are therefore the most likely to end up hospitalized or placed in intensive care.
The objective being to reduce the pressure on hospitals, this is an encouraging element since we can already see that contaminations, hospitalizations and deaths among those over 75, the most vaccinated population, are decreasing.
Better weather
Then the government waits for the sunny days to arrive.
It is not up to us, but in theory, with spring comes the sun and the heat, and we know that this has beneficial effects on the virus.
This is also why these new measures are less restrictive concerning the rules outside and that we can leave without time limit.
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So if in a month, the most fragile are protected and thus less saturate the hospital services, and if the good weather is there and therefore that the contaminations decrease, it will be possible to loosen the noose.
And to consider the summer and the rest of the vaccination campaign with a little more optimism.
This is the government's bet with this four-week confinement.