Nancy (AFP)

In the center of Nancy, residents and traders bend willy-nilly to the new curfew schedule, brought forward for the first time Saturday at 6 p.m., while questioning this measure supposed to reduce the circulation of the coronavirus.

On the very sparse Stanislas Square, a short queue is created in front of the Michelangelo.

Located a few dozen meters from the imposing Christmas tree installed by the City, this Italian restaurant is one of the few to offer a few takeaway dishes and drinks: pasta, lasagna and soups are on the menu, as well as pretzels. and mulled wine.

"This is the moment when the night begins to fall, families come to see the lights, that's what brings us customers," he explains.

Inside, the chairs are on the tables and the menus are arranged in a chest of drawers.

The establishment has been closed to the public since October 31 and "ten employees" are on partial unemployment.

"We will find solutions despite everything, we will not relax our efforts," says the young man of 32 years.

Across the counter, Eric Raclot, 58, orders a coffee to warm up.

This Grenoble resident has returned to the Grand Est region to celebrate family holidays.

"It's true that 6 pm is a bit early to take advantage of the entertainment," he says.

But bring the schedule forward, according to him, "it's a pretty wise solution, it's a time when people get together, it makes sense to limit reunions".

-"It's too early"-

The measure is however far from unanimous.

"I think that it will not change much to the health situation, on the other hand it will pose a lot of problems for people who work or who have children, it is too early", estimates Evelyne Remen, retired 65 years.

"People who want to come together will come together," she says while saying, however, that she is in favor of vaccination.

"I think I will get the vaccine," she says.

"It will be complicated for the business, we will lose the customers who came after leaving work," also regrets Steve Terle, shoe salesman in a Pataugas store, whose gauge is limited to five customers.

He himself lives in Toul, more than 25 kilometers away, and has to leave his shop at 5 p.m. to comply with the rule.

And it is not the prefectural decree authorizing the opening of stores every Sunday in January in the department that will comfort him.

"Open on Sunday, with the costs that it generates and to make three sales, it is not profitable", he concludes resigned.

"It would have been better to have a complete re-containment, we have to be logical".

- Incidence rate doubled -

This local confinement was loudly demanded by the mayor (PS) of the city Mathieu Klein.

Alas, he laments, the executive has remained "on an in-between", content to bring forward the time of the curfew in fifteen departments while the epidemic has "resumed a frantic pace".

In Meurthe-et-Moselle, the weekly incidence rate of Covid-19 has almost doubled since December 1 to stand at 242.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, against 127.3 nationally.

In her pharmacy, which has an elegant wrought iron front, Laurence Doucey is not sure what to expect in the coming days.

If she had observed a peak in attendance during the second wave, in October, she has not observed anything comparable so far.

With the 6 pm curfew, she feels a bit "stuck between two chairs".

It plans to maintain its usual opening hours, in order to "provide medical service".

"We are not a normal business," she explains.

But she will send her employees home if there are no patients to serve.

Above all, the pharmacist welcomes the measure with philosophy.

"It's better than nothing," she said.

“To close everything again is complicated. There is no perfect measure”.

At the fateful hour, a few onlookers take pictures of the deserted streets.

The iron curtains are lowered as police cars begin patrols to deter the recalcitrant.

"We tidy up quickly, it's a bit odd, the place emptied in a quarter of an hour," says Jérôme Espian, manager of the pizzeria L'Arrosoir.

"It is against the will of course, but the situation is sufficiently dramatic to be settled definitively."

© 2021 AFP