As the government has presented their four-step lockdown exit plan – to run from May 3 to June 30, 2021 – and the French can now think about having a drink on terraces and dine in a restaurant again in a matter of weeks, in compliance with the health guidelines of course, it is yet necessary to note the Elysée has already warned lockdown will be lifted on a nationwide basis, “excluding a deteriorated departmental health situation”.
As a matter of fact, according to news shared by the French President in the regional press this Friday April 30, 2021, in departments where the incidence rate is too high as of May 19 – expected to be the day terraces and cultural places can reopen – namely beyond 400 cases for 100,000 inhabitants, the government reserved the right to stop the reopening.
Furthermore, given the current data, eight departments are still above the maximum threshold of 400 cases for 100,000 inhabitants: Bouches-du-Rhône, Oise, Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Essonne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, and Val-d’Oise.
Yet, for the government to stop the reopening because of an increase in the incidence rate, please remember the latter will have to be “very sudden” and “jeopardize intensive care units”, Emmanuel Macron added to the press. “If it happens, the government, in concertation with prefects and local collectivities, will halt the reopening”.
