The beach series continues… After Brittany, it is Normandy’s turn to ask the government that, despite coronavirus, the coastline be reopen from May 11th, said to be the start of containment exit. A demand from the region through a petition coming right after Jean Castex, aka “Mister Deconfinement”, has announced this Wednesday My 6th that beaches will reopen only on May 2nd. “This is a choice made in all good conscience” Jean Castex said.
A choice that, like for Brittany, is incomprehensible for Normand and their elected representatives. A “appalling” choice, Normandy Region President Hervé Morin says. “Why is the wider public space the only one remaining shut” he wonders this Wednesday on LCI. He continues: “The only places where we can breathe, feel alive again, work out, be at peace with no one around, are beaches”.
To avoid a rush to beaches, what the government fears, Hervé Morin has a solution: opening beaches only at low tide… And for good reason: the surface of some beaches, such as in Granville or Cabourg, is much bigger at low tide. In this case, the Granville beach would reach 1 million sqm (or 1,076,391,041.670 ft²) while the beach in Cabourg is said to reach 450,000 sqm (or 4,843,759.687 ft²). “We have huge spaces, much wider than city parks and gardens, infinitely bigger than the Zara store reopening on May 11th or 12th” he replied.
A call from local councilors also demanding the government to “trust territories to manage the coastline, especially in departments where the virus is not highly active” as our peers at LCI say. We have to wait until Thursday May 7th to know if the direction has changed or not after the address from the Prime Minister.
