- 18:39. Jean Castex then Frédérique Vidal insist on the situation of the students. In recent days, two suicide attempts and several mobilizations have put the subject of student distress in times of coronavirus on the table. “The transition to 100% distancing is very difficult for students“concedes the Prime Minister, for whom it is a” source of major concern“. Small groups of first-year students will be able to resume work directed by half-groups from January 25 and individual and collective screenings will be deployed in universities. The number of psychologists present in the faculties will be doubled this semester. , announces the Minister of Higher Education.
- 18:32. The schools therefore remain open. The pediatrician François Vié Le Sage explained this week in our columns the importance of avoiding having to resort to this solution.
- 18:30. The Minister of National Education has the floor. Jean-Michel Blanquer announces a “strengthening of the health protocol in schools”. Indoor and extra-curricular physical and sports activities are suspended. Screening capacities should be increased. As summarized by the Minister, the announced policy is to “move the health protocol slider in a stricter directionIn high school, the hybrid mode of operation will be extended after January 20. For terminal students, the stated objective is to maintain as many face-to-face lessons as possible for terminal years.
- 18:20. The Prime Minister announces a curfew at 6 p.m. extended to the entire national territory, “for at least fifteen days ” from Saturday. For the government, the measure “obeys a preventive braking logic“. The exemptions will be the same as for the curfew at 8 p.m. No third confinement so for the moment, even if the government could resort to it”if in the coming days we notice a strong epidemic worsening“.
- 18:16. Jean Castex takes the floor again to specify the modalities of strengthening border controls. All travelers outside the European Union will need to test negative to travel there. In the European Union, “a sea coordination framework proposed to the next European Council, with exceptions for cross-border workers and truck driversAs for the South African variant, it appeared in the Commoros.
- 18:12. The Minister of Health takes the floor for an inventory of the situation of the British variant, “more contagious but which does not give more serious forms“, he recalls. The VOC 2020 is sensitive to vaccines,”good news“for Olivier Véran. This variant is in the majority in England and it circulates on French territory:”200 to 300 patients are infected“. As a result, the government excludes for the moment closing schools but announces an increase in screenings.
- 18:06. As usual during his press conferences dedicated to the epidemic, Jean Castex begins with a summary of the previous episodes: “The virus continues to circulate actively in Europe. In France, the second wave started in early October.“The Prime Minister continues by returning to the strategy to fight against the epidemic at work in France, by congratulating himself on not having opened all the establishments to the public, thus making it possible to avoid a third confinement (for the moment) as abroad. According to him, our situation remains “worrying“but continue to be”stabilized“The weekly average number of contaminations is 16,000 contaminations per day (the target set by the government is 5,000).
- 18:00. The English variant of the virus threatens France, the South African and Japanese versions are not far away. The vaccination campaign is taking place slowly and the government is struggling to justify its decisions. Meanwhile, students are isolated, cultural actors continue to experience the crisis and unemployment hits young people hard. It is in this context that Prime Minister Jean Castex, accompanied by five members of the government, is preparing to speak to journalists. The extension of a curfew to 6 p.m. could be announced.
Jean Castex, while welcoming that “adherence to vaccination increases“, asked the French for patience during a trip to Metz on Thursday for the opening of registrations for vaccination against Covid-19 for those 75 and over. How to admit, without admitting it, serious failures in the strategy adopted.
Before announcing possible new restrictions at a press conference at 6 p.m., the Prime Minister went to the CHR in Metz in the morning to visit a vaccination center and an appointment-making center, picking up himself the phone to answer a call. A desire for communication that contrasts with reality: at noon, the online appointment booking platform was not accessible according to the tests carried out by Humanity.
“This is a very large operation, unprecedented with a vaccine that has characteristics – it must be kept at minus 80 degrees here at the CHR in Metz – that create constraints that everyone will understand. But we’re gonna do itThe government’s first goal, which was to vaccinate a million people by the end of January, has not yet been reached and appears to be slipping away.
The map of vaccination centers must be put online during the day on the public site sante.fr, which will refer to the three private platforms selected by the State (Doctolib, Keldoc, Maiia), raising questions about the emergence of the private sector, as well as the use of consulting firms, in what should come under the national solidarity.
