Many people have been impatiently waiting for mid-May for several days. Starting from this date forth, some cultural places and some terraces are said to reopen if the health conditions enable it. This is what Gabriel Attal told Les Echos.
Covid: terraces and museums, the first to reopen from mid-May, Macron and Attal state
According to several elected representatives who attended the Covid crisis meeting this Thursday April 15 with Emmanuel Macron, terraces and museums are the first places to reopen when lockdown is lifted. A reopening starting from mid-May confirmed by Gabriel Attal this Thursday as well, along with the reopening of stores if the health conditions enable to do so. [Read more]
On April 16, the government spokesman also reaffirmed that – even progressive – lifting lockdown was still set to start from May 3, 2021 in France.
Lockdown exit: “no new calendar” at this stage – Gabriel Attal guarantees
As May 3, 2021 – the day Covid-19 restrictions are said to be lifted from – is just around the corner, the executive brings new prospects as for the progressive reopening calendar inspired by common sense. Starting with terraces and cultural places able to – mostly – reopen from mid-May. Cautious, this Friday April 16, 2021 the government spokesman says for now no other option than the one ruled for by the Head of State is being considered. Yet, lifting curfew has not been decided yet. [Read more]
But could this goal be met? Entrusted with France’s vaccination strategy, Alain Fischer remains cautious. This past April 8, he said he did not “know if this goal could be met on May 15”.
As for INSERM epidemiologist Dominique Costagliola, she said on April 19 to France Inter that because of the current situation there is “no soon improvement to expect”, or even “any decrease” by late May in the country.
Covid: “No improvement to expect” by late May in France, an INSERM epidemiologist thinks
As Emmanuel Macron has announced travel restrictions will be progressively lifted early May, INSERM epidemiologist Dominique Costagliola told France Inter that because of the current situation there is “no soon improvement to expect” or even “any decrease” by late May in the country. [Read more]
Even more pessimistic, Lille University Public Health Professor Philippe Amouyel fears lockdown be extended. As for the calendar addressed by the executive Amouyel explains in La Voix du Nord there “is a risk the President adds an extra four weeks. […] The impact of measures made might be long. We are still on a high contamination plateau remaining very high. In the North, we are higher than during the first wave and hold on thanks to cancelled surgeries. Yes, the problem is the contamination level remains too high, and if we get free too early, the epidemic will surge again quickly”.
The professor also addresses the soon reopening of schools (on April 26 for nursery and elementary schools) “on the condition we have the means. […] Protocol, vaccinating the teaching staff, managing the flow in and around schools… When one is in lockdown, we need clear lockdown exit strategy”, he insists on.
According to an Elabe survey for BFMTV, 3 French in 4 do not believe in the calendar and expect restrictions to last beyond May 2 – said to be the day the lockdown instated by Emmanuel Macron in his latest address ends.
