French citizens ready to comply with whatever it takes

May Day demonstrations in Paris turn violent

REPORTS from French authorities have multiplied in recent weeks concerning the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 72 per cent of French citizens are ready to respect a possible new confinement of at least fifteen days if the authorities take this decision.

According to a recent poll, the majority of French citizens continue to say they are worried about their health in the face of the virus (68 per cent), or about the economic consequences of the crisis (86 per cent). Many of those asked are ready to make an effort to try to stop the further spread of the pandemic.

Among the survey’s proposals, only “working completely from telework” received fewer positive responses (61 per cent). French citizens are more ready to respect barrier gestures and social distancing (92 per cent), reduce the number of leisure activities (83 per cent) or see older members of their family less often (80 per cent).

On the other hand, they are less likely to trust the government to help companies in difficulty (44 per cent) or to deal effectively with the coronavirus (36 per cent).

“It is undoubtedly the hiatus between a strong but stable concern and the severity of the measures announced this week which explains the strength of the reactions”, said Frédéric Dabi, deputy director-general of Ifop who ran the poll.

On Saturday, September 26, Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, two economists who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2019, proposed confinement in December in France to allow Christmas to be celebrated with the family. They ask to “decree confinement throughout the territory for the Advent period, from December 1 to 20”.

This “clear, uniform and transparent” solution aims to limit contamination during family gatherings, and in particular those of the elderly, the most affected by the disease, defend the two authors.

They claim that “the educational cost would be very low,” with the cancellation or holding online the last two weeks of classes of the calendar year. The economic cost would be less “important” than that of “cancelling Christmas”, or a more drastic re-containment a few weeks later due to contamination during the end of year celebrations.

“Christmas shopping could be encouraged during the month of November,” they point out. Otherwise, the rise in contaminations observed in France for several weeks could force the government to re-contain, or even to “ban travel and family reunions” during Christmas. It remains to be seen what French citizens would think of this suggestion.

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Damon Mitchell

From the interviewed to the interviewer

As frontman of a rock band Damon used to court the British press, now he lives the quiet life in Spain and seeks to get to the heart of the community, scoring exclusive interviews with ex-pats about their successes and struggles during their new life in the sun.

Originally from Scotland but based on the coast for the last three years, Damon strives to bring the most heartfelt news stories from the spanish costas to the Euro Weekly News.

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