End of gauges, wearing a mask outdoors, compulsory teleworking: following other European countries, France begins, Wednesday February 2, to lift the restrictions linked to Covid-19, despite a number of contaminations still very high. On January 20, the government had cleared the horizon of the French a little, blocked by nearly two years of pandemic, by detailing a schedule for alleviating the constraints weighing on daily life.
Thanks to the new vaccination pass, which replaced the old health pass at the end of January, “We will be able in February to lift most of the restrictions taken to curb the epidemic”, had promised the Prime Minister, Jean Castex. Promise kept: the relief of constraints takes effect this Wednesday. From now on, wearing a mask will no longer be compulsory outdoors, the gauges in places receiving a seated public (stadiums, cultural establishments, etc.) will be abandoned and teleworking will no longer be compulsory, but only recommended.
“It’s a big relief”, reacted to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Sylvie Chauchoy, director of the Zenith of Strasbourg, the largest Zenith in France. “We still had one knee on the ground on December 27” when the gauges are announced. “We are relieved, we are going to work once more but now we have to sell tickets, the ticket is not currently being sold. We have this Damocles sword above us”, she adds.
Nightclubs reopening soon
Two weeks later, on February 16, the nightclubs, closed since December 10, will be able to reopen and standing concerts will once more be authorized. Consumption at the counter will also be possible in bars. Just like consumption in stadiums, cinemas and transport. Other European countries have already loosened their restrictions considerably, like England and Denmark. In this country, even the health pass is no longer mandatory.
In the eyes of the authorities, the lifting of the constraints is notably justified by the fact that the health threat due to the Omicron variant is limited, since it is less dangerous than its predecessors, although clearly more contagious. “It’s a political choice, in a health situation that is changing very slowly and where everyone aspires to the next world”, comments Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious diseases department at the Tenon hospital in Paris. According to him, the decline is not yet confirmed: “We have the impression that we have not yet arrived at the descent of a peak but rather on a plateau”.
Slow decline in contamination in perspective
On average over seven days, more than 334,000 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in France on Monday, a figure which has been falling slightly every day since the middle of last week. But the number of cases remains at levels not seen before the arrival at the end of 2021 of the Omicron variant. And if the situation seems stable in critical care services, the number of hospitalized patients remains at a high level.
“For the coming weeks, there is a great deal of uncertainty”, acknowledges Gilles Pialoux. Should we wait before loosening the vice? “Abandoning the mask outside risks reducing its use in closed spaces”, he worries. “Circulation of the virus remains extremely high and infections are not going to drop suddenly following the peak”, also warns epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea. “Insofar as constraints are alleviated without at the same time implementing braking measures such as the installation of CO sensors2 » to assess the level of contamination of indoor air, the decline might be very slow, he warns.
The virus circulates particularly in schools, the vast majority of children not being vaccinated to date. Jean Castex envisaged a reduction in the health protocol for schools upon returning from the February holidays, i.e. not before March 7, the date when all the children (from the three zones) will have returned from vacation.
