A few days after the announcement of the provisional deconfinement schedule by the President of the Republic, the sub-prefect of Grasse, Anne Frackowiak-Jacobs, accompanied by Séverine Lalain, head of the risk prevention management and health alerts department at ARS06, provided an update on the COVID crisis situation in the department.
Since the beginning of the crisis, the Alpes-Maritimes department has recorded 400 deaths in hospital settings. As of today, there are still more than 200 hospitalizations, including 66 in intensive care for COVID+ symptoms. The incidence and positivity rates have been slightly decreasing for about ten days.
However, on the hospital side, the curve of patients with coronavirus infections has only stabilized, which nonetheless encourages the utmost caution. “The virus is circulating less, but the number of hospitalized people remains very high,” warns Séverine Lalain of the ARS. Speaking about the new figures, the effect of the second lockdown is being felt “but we must continue to adhere to the barrier measures. Just because we are gradually deconfining doesn’t mean we should no longer be cautious!” Furthermore, the long-term consequences of the disease are not yet well understood by specialists who regularly discover new cases of illness developing in some patients who have contracted the virus.
Christmas markets can reopen
Among the list of measures already announced by Emmanuel Macron are some minor specificities such as the resumption of home services (hairdressing, beauticians, work…), and the reopening of conservatories and music schools (except for singing). Places of worship will be subject to a limit as they will not be able to accommodate more than 30 worshippers at a time. As for cinemas and other performance venues, they will be allowed to receive the public from December 15 (unless the health situation worsens), outside the curfew period (from 9 PM to 6 AM) which will come into force again. A tolerance will allow the public to return home after 9 PM upon showing proof (reservation, ticket…) to provide greater flexibility to event organizers.
Another piece of good news, Christmas markets can open their doors starting tomorrow but without on-site dining points or encouragements for large gatherings as mentioned by the sub-prefect: “We call for the vigilance of elected officials regarding these Christmas markets because it will be difficult to enforce capacity limits and prevent gatherings.” For the moment, no decision has been made regarding an opening in Nice.
The commercial protocol has been slightly revised in comparison to past weeks. From today onward, stores will have to adhere to a limit of 8m² per customer (excluding employees). Stores larger than 400m² will need to conduct a headcount to ensure they do not exceed authorized quotas, which means, for consumers, the return of those sometimes endless queues.
Still, if deconfinement can be gradually implemented, Anne Frackowiak-Jacobs reminds that it is crucial to remain extremely vigilant when going to potentially crowded stores and to exercise civility to prevent a new spike in contamination: “Everyone is responsible for their own protection and that of others. People need to stop thinking the Government is constantly trying to constrain them, it’s mainly to protect them. We need to have this awareness and apply it to ourselves and others.”
