France announces National Lockdown

[6862]

Coronavirus: Macron declares second national lockdown in France

The tough new curbs on travel, businesses and gatherings are aimed at tackling a Covid-19 surge.

www.bbc.co.uk

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a second national lockdown for at least the whole of November.
Mr Macron said under the new measures, starting on Friday, people would only be allowed to leave home for essential work or medical reasons.
Non-essential businesses, such as restaurants and bars, will close, but schools and factories will remain open.
Covid daily deaths in France are at the highest level since April. On Tuesday, 33,000 new cases were confirmed.
Mr Macron said the country risked being "overwhelmed by a second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first".
The president said that people would need to fill in a form to justify leaving their homes, as was required in the initial lockdown in March.

Just seen this on the BBC News front page. This is beyond ridiculous - 'Mr Macron said the country risked being "overwhelmed by a second wave that no doubt will be harder than the first"'. How can he possibly know ('no doubt') this? I reckon we'll follow within the week. What are people's thoughts on this (and what we are seeing elsewhere)?

 

[Iskra]

I don’t like the precedent this sets.

I think it would be economically catastrophic.

 

[philjo]

It doesn’t give an end date -just at least the whole of November.
I see that Germany have also announced new restrictions though not as severe as France.

 

[Class 33]

Is it my imagination or did Macron previously say another national lockdown is absolutely ruled out?

 

[scotrail158713]

I don’t like the precedent this sets.

This is my concern. I fear much of Europe will follow.

 

[Crossover]

Is it my imagination or did Macron previously say another national lockdown is absolutely ruled out?

Correct! At the end of August

President Macron rules out a new general lockdown in France

The French President has excluded the possibility of a national lockdown that would “bring the country to a stop”. Cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in France but numbers in intensive care remain stable.

www.connexionfrance.com

President Macron rules out a new general lockdown in France
The French President has excluded the possibility of a national lockdown that would “bring the country to a stop”. Cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in France but numbers in intensive care remain stable.

The President told news source Paris Match that, rather than a nationwide lockdown, he favoured “targeted confinement” and “local strategies”.

He acknowledged that people in France have “legitimate anxieties” about the spread of Covid-19, but said: “There is no such thing as zero risk in society. We need to respond to anxiety [over Covid-19] without giving into a zero-risk doctrine.”

He added that a second national lockdown would cause “considerable” collateral damage to the country.

The last sentence is probably most prevalent!

 

[Class 33]

Correct! At the end of August

President Macron rules out a new general lockdown in France

The French President has excluded the possibility of a national lockdown that would “bring the country to a stop”. Cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in France but numbers in intensive care remain stable.

www.connexionfrance.com

The last sentence is probably most prevalent!

Cheers for confirming that. Just shows you can't trust these politicians!

 

[birchesgreen]

Didn't Ireland also rule out a second lockdown but have done it anyway.

 

[Carlisle]

So despite the frequently suggested merits of the Swedish model & great barrington declaration, in reality no major economy appears in any way close to showing a willingness to actually try that formula instead of a second lockdown

 

[Bantamzen]

Despite the regularly suggested merits of the Swedish model & great barrington declaration no major economy appears willing to try that formula instead of a second lockdown

Or in other words, no politicians want to admit they got it wrong with lockdowns, so they will mandate more and more in the hope that one day they might work.

 

[adc82140]

Is it my imagination or did Macron previously say another national lockdown is absolutely ruled out?

Aha. I bet he'll argue that as schools are staying open, alongside most workplaces, it isn't a lockdown. Politicians thrive on semantics

 

[DB]

Wonder whether this will lead to civil unrest?

 

[Bantamzen]

Wonder whether this will lead to civil unrest?

Well it is starting to happen in Italy and Spain, so I really would be surprised if the French take this without protest.

 

[brad465]

It doesn’t give an end date -just at least the whole of November.
I see that Germany have also announced new restrictions though not as severe as France.

Germany have managed this rather well so far with their extensive testing and tracing, however for all its merits this is proving that it doesn't work when so many cases are known to be asymptomatic, along with a high basic reproduction rate for the virus in question.

Wonder whether this will lead to civil unrest?

Italy has already been having some, so it's possible.

 

[MikeWM]

Ah, another great success for 'masks everywhere'.

Does anyone think this continued strategy of lockdowns is actually sustainable?

 

[Chester1]

Ah, another great success for 'masks everywhere'.

Does anyone think this continued strategy of lockdowns is actually sustainable?

No. Its kicking the can down the road and praying there will be a vaccine before you are back to square one. I doubt Boris has the political capital left to implement a full lockdown. It needs parliamentary approval and getting it through only with opposition party support would finish off his premiership. Tier 3 measures are at the limit of public tolerance over the long term (and only because people break the law to see partners and family).

 

[Yew]

So despite the frequently suggested merits of the Swedish model & great barrington declaration, in reality no major economy appears in any way close to showing a willingness to actually try that formula instead of a second lockdown

Heart failure, cancer and suicide don't show up on Covid death counts.

 

[BJames]

Ah, another great success for 'masks everywhere'.


Does anyone think this continued strategy of lockdowns is actually sustainable?

Of course not. It's utterly ridiculous that France is yet again going into a national lockdown of the same kind as in March. Clearly as you've said masks have not helped stop the spread here, and clearly another lockdown cannot be afforded. But it's being done anyway. The price of this will be paid for years and years to come.

 

[brad465]

Well it is starting to happen in Italy and Spain, so I really would be surprised if the French take this without protest.

Thinking about it, the French love of strikes and the gilet-jaunes are strong evidence that unrest is a realistic possibility. This would potentially deter us from going back into lockdown given our overstretched police force, unless French unrest too a long time to materialise.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

No. Its kicking the can down the road and praying there will be a vaccine before you are back to square one. I doubt Boris has the political capital left to implement a full lockdown. It needs parliamentary approval and getting it through only with opposition party support would finish off his premiership. Tier 3 measures are at the limit of public tolerance over the long term (and only because people break the law to see partners and family).

I may be mis-remembering, but I think they only committed to Parliament being ‘consulted’ over nationwide measures? Under emergency powers, they could introduce a Tier 4 and move every single area into it & thus circumvent that safety net ‘in the interests of public health’.
Herd stupidity, right across Europe, coming to you !

 

[Andyh82]

No. Its kicking the can down the road and praying there will be a vaccine before you are back to square one. I doubt Boris has the political capital left to implement a full lockdown. It needs parliamentary approval and getting it through only with opposition party support would finish off his premiership. Tier 3 measures are at the limit of public tolerance over the long term (and only because people break the law to see partners and family).

Give it a few days and I’m sure there will be “rising pressure on the government” to do the same here, with all the various players (the media, the opposition, Scotland, Wales, numerous people interviewed on the streets on the news...) all supporting that outcome

 

[Richard Scott]

Give it a few days and I’m sure there will be “rising pressure on the government” to do the same here, with all the various players (the media, the opposition, Scotland, Wales, numerous people interviewed on the streets on the news...) all supporting that outcome

That's the worrying thing. The government will cave in due to pressure rather than do what's best for the country. Just hope the French start protesting quickly.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

That's the worrying thing. The government will cave in due to pressure rather than do what's best for the country. Just hope the French start protesting quickly.

Moi, aussi

 

[bramling]

Give it a few days and I’m sure there will be “rising pressure on the government” to do the same here, with all the various players (the media, the opposition, Scotland, Wales, numerous people interviewed on the streets on the news...) all supporting that outcome

Announcement on Monday evening worth a bet?

 

[Scotrail12]

Macron yet another fool to add to the list that should be tried!

Permission to leave your house - can you not go out for a 30 minute walk to get fresh air and exercise?

 

[bramling]

Macron yet another fool to add to the list that should be tried!

Permission to leave your house - can you not go out for a 30 minute walk to get fresh air and exercise?

There does seem to be an increasing desperation to some of the measures going in.

It just seems they’re now just ravaging the shelves grabbing whatever they think of, instead of implementing measures which are actually effective. Masks outside being a good example.

The more pointless measures there are the less people will take notice of the ones that are useful.

 

[Bantamzen]

Thinking about it, the French love of strikes and the gilet-jaunes are strong evidence that unrest is a realistic possibility. This would potentially deter us from going back into lockdown given our overstretched police force, unless French unrest too a long time to materialise.

Well there were protests earlier in the year in France over restrictions, so I see no reason why there won't be more this time around.

 

[Smidster]

While there may be the odd disturbance here or there there are not going to be mass riots anywhere - You really need to remember that the majority of the population support additional restrictions and indeed wish the Government would go further. That doesn't mean they are happy about it, or don't wish it would go away, but they prefer it to the alternative.

There does seem to be a depressing sense of inevitability to all this and across the board it seems the lessons of the Spring were not learned, or at least not well enough, and so we are back where we were.

Lockdown should always be the absolute last resort, as the WHO say, and only used for me when you have a healthcare system that is no longer able to cope - Of course in Winter the bar for that may be lower than in Spring when the healthcare system is busier to start with.

I do expect something similar here shortly...most likely when Parliament returns from recess

 

[Bantamzen]

While there may be the odd disturbance here or there there are not going to be mass riots anywhere - You really need to remember that the majority of the population support additional restrictions and indeed wish the Government would go further. That doesn't mean they are happy about it, or don't wish it would go away, but they prefer it to the alternative.

There does seem to be a depressing sense of inevitability to all this and across the board it seems the lessons of the Spring were not learned, or at least not well enough, and so we are back where we were.

Lockdown should always be the absolute last resort, as the WHO say, and only used for me when you have a healthcare system that is no longer able to cope - Of course in Winter the bar for that may be lower than in Spring when the healthcare system is busier to start with.

I do expect something similar here shortly...most likely when Parliament returns from recess

Dismiss the protests as you will, but they are growing in Italy & Spain & certainly in the former are starting to become organised by the local football Ultras. And for those who don't know about Ultras, they more than just football hooligans, these are people who are often central to football supporter clubs & often very well respected by supporters so will get more and more backing. There is only so much people can take, and many countries are already over that line.

 

[island]

Wonder whether this will lead to civil unrest?

The French do love a good manifestation.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2020 ==

Ah, another great success for 'masks everywhere'.

The announcement last night also stated that people were to wear masks in private households whenever someone not from that household is present.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Oct 2020 ==

Macron yet another fool to add to the list that should be tried!

Permission to leave your house - can you not go out for a 30 minute walk to get fresh air and exercise?

You do not need permission, you need to fill out and carry a declaration form available from the government website (or your can handwrite the words) explaining what you are doing and the time you left home, and produce it to police on request. If you are working you also need to produce a letter from your employer certifying that your job is impossible to do from home.

The intent is said to be to make people take an extra step/think twice before going out. It can also catch people “exercising” for a disproportionate length of time or taking long detours. And the French do love their bureaucracy...