A year ago, French experienced their first lockdown. The situation seemed irreal. Faced with the invisible enemy, coronavirus, streets emptied out. People had to stay home hoping things would get back to normal. A year later, France has not resume life as it was before. The epidemic remains and despite the launch of the vaccination campaign, the country is faced with the threat of variants.
Some estimations consider life is to get back to normal before the summer 2021. But the French are more guarded. A recent IFOP survey for Aladom says 71% of the surveyed think life would never go back to normal.
What does it truly mean? According to the French surveyed, some habits from the world ‘before’ will no longer have a meaning in the world after. For instance, the “bise” (kiss on the cheeks) might disappear. 78% of the surveyed are willing not to kiss strangers again, and a French in two will no longer kiss their relatives on the cheeks.
Goodbye kisses, and hello facemasks? In the world before, seeing someone with a facemask on in the metro seemed really odd, compared to what we could see in some Asian countries. Now, things have changed: seeing someone without a facemask in public transit has become unusual. At the end of the coronavirus epidemic, 74% of the French surveyed yet intend to keep on wearing facemasks in public transit when they are sick.
*Ifop survey for Aladom, based on self-answered form available online on March 3 and 4, 2021 in a sample of 1,048 people representing the population living in mainland France aged 18+.
