The third wave of the coronavirus hits France | …

From Paris

The virus cage has fallen on French society. The highest peak of the second wave was passed by the third wave in the intensive care units without the executive taking the action that the scientific community is demanding or correcting.Until now, the strategy not to confine the country has been defending since the end of January. The pandemic is out of control in several regions, including the French capital and the suburbs, hospitals are overcrowded, schools are closing and the government and the presidency are advancing with a position that a large majority deems incomprehensible.

The country asks the same question as the first page in the morning Release. With a photo of President Emmanuel Macron sitting with folded arms, the newspaper writes: “What are you waiting for? On March 25, at a press conference, Macron said: “We were right not to confine France at the end of January because the explosion that the models predicted did not take place. Therefore, I can confirm that I do not have to express mea culpa, remorse, or accept failure. “The models, however, have failed. In January and contrary to expectations, the Head of State decided not to implement a third confinement of France. He had encouraging role models and opted for other measures such as curfews and regional lockdowns. All attempts to stop the spread of the epidemic have failed.

This Tuesday, March 30, there are 5,000 patients “in intensive care” in hospitals, a figure reached for the first time since April 2020. Monday March 29, the ceiling of 4,900 recorded in November 2020 was exceeded. is far from the 7,000 patients in intensive care of April 2020, but hospitals are already preparing for the worst, especially since the rate of hospitalizations in intensive care is very high with 569 patients in the last 24 hours, an unprecedented figure since a year . The total number of people interned is 28,510.

The measures have been reinforced for ten days, especially in the French capital and 18 other departments. The pandemic can do anything and is even persistent despite the current vaccination campaign. For this Wednesday, March 31, new decisions are expected at the end of the defense council which is held every week and which serves as a platform to put in place additional restrictions. All options are on the table, including that of a new national confinement like that of last March until the closure of schools, where unexpected sources of contamination have exploded.. Summer is approaching and the possibility that it will be a summer behind closed doors, without the possibility of traveling between regions, is becoming more and more present. The scientific committee which advises the presidency, in favor of strict containment for months, alleges that “the intensity and the nature of the control measures underway over the next two months (April and May) will be a key element to anticipate the state of the pandemic. in June 2021. On March 20, the curfew was reinforced with new type of braking measures, but its effect remains uncertain. ”

France is preparing in the coming days for a possible third confinement as a kind of passport to freedom in June, July and August. However, as Macron said two weeks ago, “the virus is the master of time”. The medical and scientific community does not understand the government’s strategy. In a letter addressed to the French President and signed by the President of the National Council of the Order of Doctors of France, Patrick Bouet, the official wrote “faced with a terribly serious situation, the need for stricter measures is essential. on us (…) Mr. President, until we are all massively vaccinated, where the situation is serious, we must confine ourselves ”.

The President and the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, are raining criticism, accusations of immobility and of having managed the crisis with a political and non-health magnifying glass and not having had the courage to reconfigure the country to prevent what happens. The moral and emotional fatigue that afflicts society is found on all sides of the French capital. Schedule changes, curfews, travel restrictions, telecommuting, closed shops, empty nights and a very slow vaccination campaign do not draw a living horizon. Everything is heavy, scary, improbable and endless. Macron remains firm in his “morning, noon and evening” vaccination policy. However, hospitals are overcrowded and people continue to die from the same virus that broke out a year ago (over 80,000 dead to date).

Macron is going through a critical moment. His majority in the National Assembly is a bag of angry cats and the two profiles he adopted in 2021 in the face of the pandemic raise questions and fierce attacks: in January of this year, he chose not to reconfigure all of France and then designed what was called “the third way”, that is to say a true-false containment ranging from a curfew to reinforced containment but limited to the most affected regions. (This was decided on March 20). At the end of Wednesday’s defense council, the time for big decisions seems to have come for a president who, until today, has been involved in promoting and giving hope with the vaccine and has left his prime minister in charge of delivering the bad news. . The schools closed and paying homage to summer freedom in the next two months are listed in the catalog that Macron could reveal in the coming days.