Paris (AFP)
Finally some air! In the green, in the sea or in the mountains, the French began on Saturday to take advantage of the outdoors for the first post-containment weekend, but under conditions and under the watchful eye of authorities calling for caution when dealing with coronavirus .
In Nice, it was not 8 am when the first bathers took over the beach which had been denied them for two months. "We are like drug addicts, we were impatient because we bathe here all year round", breathes Gilles, a sixty-something retired man, before jumping into water at 16 ° C.
Same happiness in Saint-Malo where the water is only 13 ° C: "It's my first swim, a little cold, but it was expected!" Says Frédéric, 48, a resident of the city center .
Vigilance remains required, however, because "the coronavirus continues to circulate on our territory", warned Saturday the Minister of Health Olivier Véran on Twitter.
For this first weekend of deconfinement, France has recorded less than 100 deaths (96) in the past 24 hours, with a toll which now reaches 27,625 deaths since March 1.
The number of patients in intensive care continues to decline (minus 71 on Saturday, with 2,132 serious cases in acute care compared to more than 7,000 in early April). But a more worrying signal: hospitals have received more new patients in the past 24 hours than a week ago.
To succeed in deconfinement without restarting the epidemic, the freedom granted to the French remains limited: escapades are only authorized within the limit of 100 km, and with respect for barrier gestures.
Because if the epidemic ebbs, scientists agree that no assessment can be made for at least two weeks on the trajectory of the spread of the virus and a possible "second wave".
- Peaceful stroll in Carcassonne -
These are the prefects who have "the possibility of opening access" to the beaches, recalled the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, traveling on that of Veules-les-Roses (Seine-Maritime).
Beaches where, this weekend, there is no question of sunbathing or picnics.
In New Aquitaine, bordered by 720 km of coastline, dozens of municipalities have deconfined their beaches from Charente-Maritime, as on the Ile de Ré, to the Basque coast.
On one of the beaches of Lacanau, a famous surf spot in Gironde, around sixty surfers have tasted the first waves of deconfinement.
Closed for almost two months, Mont Saint-Michel or the sanctuary of Lourdes are also accessible again. "By opening these gates, I wish never to have to close them again", launches in preamble the rector of the sanctuary, Mgr Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, before inviting the first visitors to follow him by intoning an "Ave Maria".
A few dozen visitors also ventured into the medieval alleys of the City of Carcassonne, reopened since Wednesday and spared by the usual tourist influx.
And if the traders have slowly resumed their activity, the Chateau Comtal and the famous ramparts can only reopen in mid-June, with a limited number of places and electronic reservation.
- Return of "yellow vests" -
At the Saint-Ouen flea market, one of the busiest sites in France with its 5 million annual visitors, activity also remained very calm for the recovery. It will be necessary to wait for the return of foreign customers for business to restart.
In the Alps too, the first mountain enthusiasts flocked to the Aiguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix in the early morning. Gloved, helmeted and ... masked, in the dumpsters in any case, to respect sanitary measures.
And even if they don't live in the sea or in the mountains, city dwellers will be able to reconnect with the greenery. In Île-de-France, the region has reopened 39 public forests.
The cinemas remain closed, but in Bordeaux, the immense Place des Quinconces will be transformed on Saturday evening into an open-air cinema for the first stage in France of the Drive-In Festival.
From Montpellier to Nantes, a few hundred "yellow vests" took advantage of this first post-containment Saturday to defy the ban on demonstrations, law enforcement officials often proceeding with verbalizations. "The repression is still there, but so are we," protested Jean-Jacques, 52, a "yellow vest" from the start present in Montpellier.
- Vaccine in 18 months? -
The ecological organization Extinction Rébellion (XR) has resumed its actions of civil disobedience by organizing "anti-pub" operations, its activists covering advertising panels with white Meudon, paper or fabrics, notably in Antibes, Bordeaux or Grenoble.
For secondary school students in grades 6 and 5 in the "green" areas, this weekend should also allow them to prepare for the return to class on Monday, after kindergarten and primary.
All hopes turn to a possible vaccine. But it is not hoped for 18 months, according to Research Minister Frédérique Vidal, contradicting President Donald Trump, who says it is possible by the end of 2020.
In the meantime, the government intends to do everything to save tourism and its two million jobs.
But Christophe Castaner deemed Saturday "essential" to coordinate decisions on the reopening of borders within the European space, regretting that this is not the case, after Spanish and Italian decisions this week.
© 2020 AFP