Covid-19: with the improvement of the situation, a wind of freedom in the Alpes-Maritimes

Among the most heavily affected departments, the Alpes-Maritimes now have an incidence rate well below the national average.

With 45 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, the department regains more freedom.

In Nice, masks fall and passers-by gather on the Promenade des Anglais.

REPORTAGE

The Alpes-Maritimes, one of the departments among the most affected last winter by the coronavirus epidemic, is breathing again today.

The residents had been confined there before anyone else, but the measures have borne fruit.

The incidence rate has fallen to 45 cases per 100,000 population, much lower than the national average.

Something to bring back a smile to the inhabitants of Nice, where a wind of freedom has been blowing for a few days.

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"We breathe freedom, we are good!"

"We see people on the Promenade des Anglais, without a mask, it's normalcy, it feels good," enthuses a resident at the microphone of Europe 1. Streets and lively terraces, cinemas that have rekindled their projectors, museums and shops once again accessible ... Nice is savoring this return to an almost normal life.

Mask hung on her arm, Gigi came to do some shopping: "We breathe freedom, we are good!", She said, specifying to wear the mask only in stores.

"Outside, there is no reason. And there, we will even take advantage of it, we will go have a drink!"

These two young mothers have made an appointment for a few hours of freedom.

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"In January, we took it for three months"

"Finally, the stores have reopened, we live again, we can finally leave the house," reacts this young mother, who has found a friend for a few hours of freedom.

Under curfew since the beginning of the year, the inhabitants of the Alpes-Maritimes, like Mercedes, note with relief the decline of the epidemic. "Since the beginning of January we have signed and we have taken for three months, and we are harvesting the fact that there are no longer too many cases." With 45 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the incidence rate has dropped significantly, but in recent days hospitalizations have increased slightly.