Paris (AFP)
On the eve of a first weekend away from home for many French people, experts commissioned by the government believe that the epidemic, if it is not over, is finally "controlled" and envisage the continuation of the deconfinement .
"We can say that currently, reasonably, the epidemic is controlled," said Friday on France Inter Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Scientific Council responsible for guiding the authorities facing the coronavirus crisis.
The epidemic has caused 44 new deaths in hospitals in France, bringing Thursday evening the total balance to 29,065 deaths since the start of the epidemic, according to the official balance sheet. The decline continues in intensive care with, to date, 1,163 patients (against more than 7,000 at the peak in early April), or 47 patients less in 24 hours.
On this Mother's Day weekend, the French, who have been able to find cafes, bars and restaurants in the green areas and terraces in the orange areas since Tuesday (Ile-de-France, Mayotte, Guyana) at the end of travel restrictions since Monday, go see their relatives, some of whom they have been separated for almost three months.
With the gradual reopening of beaches, museums, monuments, zoos or theaters since this week, while respecting certain rules of distancing or wearing a mask, they will also be able to rediscover the pleasure of reconnecting with forgotten leisure activities.
- Four scenarios -
In this context of regained freedom and controlled epidemic, the Scientific Council, preparing the continuation, published Thursday a new opinion recommending to prepare for "four probable scenarios" for the months to come, going from an "epidemic under control "to" critical degradation ".
The first scenario, "the most favorable", considers only a few "localized outbreaks that can be controlled". The others envisage "critical clusters (foci) letting fear of a loss of control of the chains and contamination" or "a progressive resumption and with low noise of the epidemic, more difficult to identify".
The last would be that of a "critical degradation of indicators" for monitoring the epidemic, reflecting "a loss of control" of the latter.
"We think that scenario number one, that is to say control of the epidemic, is the most likely. It is linked both to the consequences of confinement, it is linked to the fact that this virus may be sensitive to a certain form of temperature ", according to Jean-François Delfraissy.
"The first point is to ask everyone and all our fellow citizens, in this optimistic scenario where the epidemic is controlled, to keep a certain number of measures anyway," he continued. "We must keep the distancing measures and, in my opinion, we will keep them long enough."
With this uncertainty, the National Assembly examines Friday a bill that would allow both the postponement of the second round of municipal in the event of a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic and a facilitated proxy vote, if it takes place on June 28.
We must "prepare for all scenarios", launched the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner by opening the debate.
- "overinterpretation of the protocol" -
On the side of schools, where the recovery is not broad enough for the taste of some parents, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer said Thursday hoping that the health protocol can be relaxed "soon".
For government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye, "some town halls have overinterpreted the health protocol", slowing the return to school of students in phase II of deconfinement.
"What we want is that the town halls which have not yet opened their schools can do so as quickly as possible," she said on Friday.
On the front of the social and economic emergency, which is increasingly taking precedence over the health emergency, Emmanuel Macron and Edouard Philippe met on Thursday unions and employers looking for solutions to "save jobs".
"The issue," said Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud at the end of the meeting, is to "save jobs", to "build a new deal" to preserve the skills of employees.
Among the announcements made at the end of this nearly three-hour meeting with the social partners, companies that will recruit an apprentice from July 1 to February 28 will benefit from increased assistance in hiring of 8,000 euros for adults and 5,000 euros for minors.
According to a note from the OFCE on Friday, the French economy, placed under strict confinement, was undoubtedly one of the most affected by the pandemic. According to the OFCE, France is a victim of its exposure to tourism, with hotel and restaurant and trade sectors much larger than elsewhere.
© 2020 AFP