A big day. I’m going to go and buy some bread. I have my form printed. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Emmanuel Macron says that “too many people” are not taking the lockdown seriously enough and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner rather colourfully criticises people “who think they are modern heroes by breaking the rules when they are really imbeciles”.
Since several local authorities have felt it necessary to close the beaches, it looks as if they may have a point.
A medical state of emergency has passed in the Senate and it looks as if the lockdown is going to be long.
One of the top health bosses, Geneviève Chêne, says that it will almost certainly be necessary to extend it. Two to four weeks are necessary just to see of the situation is getting better, she says, adding that, if China’s example is anything to go by, the curve of infections will not start descending before the middle or end of May.
While the government is scolding the people, three doctors have filed a case against former health minister Agnès Buzyn and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
The doctors point out that Buzyn recently told Le Monde that she had warned the government how serious the virus was in January and said that the local council elections should be postponed. That didn’t stop her quitting her post to head the Macron party’s list for the Paris city council after a solo sex tape of the previous mayoral candidate was posted online.
The shortage of FFP2 face masks reflects poorly on everyone who has been in power over the last decade. In 2005, after the avian flu outbreak, the then government (under president Jacques Chirac) decided to build up stocks in case of a future emergency. But in 2010 Nicolas Sarkozy’s government scrapped the orders, saying plenty were available in pharmacies.
Not enough for an emergency, however, and they’re all gone now. The authorities are assuring us that they are not necessary if you are not ill or a medical professional, but that doesn’t seem to be the opinion of officials in countries were there are enough face masks. Ministers have even suggested that people who aren’t ill take them to the pharmacies for use by medical professionals. Of course, nobody knows for sure that they are not ill because the symptoms may not have appeared yet.
Meanwile, 25 million masks are being distributed to some of those the government says need them and emergency production has been launched. They used to be imported from Wuhan.
Do you want to know how Mum is? She’s coughing less today, which leads me to believe that it is aggravated by pollution or pollen – a lot better than the virus. But she said she was getting out of breath, another recurring problem. Still no fever.
I still have to remind her continuously to cough into her elbow, or as near as she can get to it. I explained everything yesterday but it doesn’t stick.
Some comments from south of the Pyrenees. I think the response to the lockdown has been pretty good in Catalonia, the only place I know first hand, since the Catalan government’s announcements and reality started kicking in.
Last weekend, before the central government called on everyone to stay indoors, small cities like mine, Granollers, as well as Barcelona and other larger ones, were deserted but some people were still out (including me) on sparcely populated bar terraces on the Friday night, or jogging, cycling, etc, on Sunday morning, thinking that was safe and okay.
But the police were quickly out to reinforce the message and send said joggers and cyclists home. Since then the noose has tightened so to speak, with police patrols demanding justification and the imposition of fines if none forthcoming.
This weekend they will be on the lookout for “second homers” leaving the cities to go to their holiday homes by the sea or in the mountains with fines that could reach hundreds or even thousands of euros, depending on the degree of irresponsibility.
I heard yesterday the mayor of Nice is even floating the idea of a curfew. Is that where we are heading? How long is it sustainable? And what’s the point if millions of people meet by going to work every day? There’s a limit to social distancing on the underground.
I pose these questions because they’re on my mind but also because the infectious disease experts advising the Catalan government say if all non-essential industry and services are not rapidly stopped and the geographical Covid clusters are not totally isolated (China-style) we face Dante-esque scenarios, starting next week with an emergency service meltdown. A word also used by the Lancet in reference to Spain.
The Madrid government has taken some belated drastic measures but refuses to lockdown Madrid (city and region) the epicentre of the virus or Catalonia which is close on its heels. How far will reluctant Western governments be pushed down this road?
They could do this. They could also tap into the ingenuity of their citizens in producing desperately needed PPEs like masks, gloves and other clothing, ventilators and respiratory equipment, some of which can and are being produced by 3D printing, They could mobilise businesses to do this – some are volunteering and even going ahead anyway – but I think all that solidarity action will have to come from below, so to speak.