Covid-19 lockdown check-in

[Zanza]

Lockdown 2.0 in France starting Friday. En marche!

Those rules are again much tougher than here. I hope we will not need such an escalation...

[Josquius]

Numbers from Switzerland are pretty horrific apparently. Over 1000 per 100k in some cantons. Second wave is truly hitting the world. The UK seems to have got it early and is maybe moving out of it. Looks like any thought of connecting with there before babygeddon is done.

[mongers]

Lockdown 2.0 in France starting Friday. En marche!

We need that here, rather than Johnson's silly-shallying around.

[Sheilbh]

Numbers from Switzerland are pretty horrific apparently. Over 1000 per 100k in some cantons. Second wave is truly hitting the world. The UK seems to have got it early and is maybe moving out of it. Looks like any thought of connecting with there before babygeddon is done.

The numbers in Belgium are really bad again.

And from what I've seen it looks like it's getting very bad in Czech Republic too.

Edit: I keep thinking about the modelling done in that Imperial paper which said you could stop the first wave but would then get a bigger and more dangerous second wave in winter - as it feels like that's what we're going through.

[KRonn]

I'm still working from home. Some of us can go into the office but there are restrictions, masks when near someone, limited numbers of people. I like working from home and for the foreseeable future there's no push for us to go back to the office building.

[mongers]

I'm still working from home. Some of us can go into the office but there are restrictions, masks when near someone, limited numbers of people. I like working from home and for the foreseeable future there's no push for us to go back to the office building.

Good to hear from you, KRonn, stay safe.

[The Larch]

We're in a bit of a funny situation over here. My region has not restricted movement to other regions after the state of alarm was decreed in Spain earlier this week, but the two regions that border us have done so, as well as Portugal during this weekend, so even if we haven't restricted these trips, on practical terms it's as if we had, as we don't really have anywhere to go. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Lockdown 2.0 in France starting Friday. En marche!

Asseyez-vous  !

[Duque de Bragança]

"Jupiterian" slogan, sorry. cf. the name of his party, la République (more like la raie publique) en Marche.

French PM Castex details new Covid-19 nationwide lockdown rules

Issued on: 29/10/2020 - 08:18
French Prime Minister Jean Castex in a photo taken on October 7, 2020, was to announce the details of the new Covid-19 lockdown measures on October 29, 2020.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Thursday detailed before parliament new restrictions under a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, a day after President Emmanuel Macron said the drastic measure was necessary to curb a second wave of the virus that has been deadlier than expected.


Castex addressed the National Assembly, France's lower house, on Thursday morning and was then to address the Senate, where the measures will be put to a vote, before unveiling the new lockdown measures in a televised address Thursday evening.

France goes into a second nationwide lockdown this year starting midnight Thursday, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases that has threatened to overwhelm French hospitals.

In an address to the nation Wednesday night, Macron noted that, "the virus is spreading across France at a speed that even the most pessimistic did not predict."

The new nationwide lockdown would be enforced initially until December 1, Macron said, although schools and creches will remain open.

He said the lockdown might start to ease once Covid-19 infections fell back to about 5,000 per day from around 40,000 per day at present.

But the government's scientific adviser, Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, said on Thursday that the lockdown may have to extend beyond December 1.

Speaking on France Inter radio, Delfraissy said the goal of bringing infections down to 5,000 a day was unlikely to be achieved by end of November.

"By December 1, we will not be at 5,000 contaminations per day. I can tell you that straight away today. We will need more time," said Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the French government on the pandemic.

"The scenario is rather to have this lockdown period of one month, to look at the different types of markers and then to exit this containment through, by example, a curfew that could continue through December, possibly covering also Christmas and New Year's Eve, and to end it only in early January", he said.

Earlier this month, Paris and other major French cities went into an overnight curfew from 9pm to 6am in a bid to stem the spread of the virus. But on Wednesday, Macron admitted the overnight curfew failed to slow down the second wave, which has sent the death toll in France to nearly 35,000.

He admitted that a curfew for Paris and other major cities imposed two weeks ago had failed to slow down a second wave of cases that has sent the death toll in France to nearly 35,000.

"As elsewhere in Europe, we are overwhelmed by a second wave that will probably be more difficult and deadly than the first," Macron said.

"If we did nothing... within a few months we would have at least 400,000 additional deaths," he said.

Already more than 3,000 intensive care patients are forcing hospitals to scramble for beds, and "no matter what we do, nearly 9,000 people will be in intensive care by mid-November," he warned.

France on Wednesday reported 244 new virus deaths over the past 24 hours, and more than 36,000 new positive tests.

Macron sends France back to lockdown as cases spiral out of control


Cafes, restaurants shut

The new measures, which come into force on Friday, will mean people have to stay in their homes except to buy essential goods, seek medical attention, or use their daily one-hour allocation of exercise.

Cafes, restaurants and shops will shut down unless they are deemed to be selling essential goods, such as supermarkets and pharmacies.

People will still be allowed to go to work if their employer deems it impossible for them to do the job from home, Macron said. 

"Like last spring, you will be able to leave your home only for work, for a doctor's visit, to help a relative, do essential shopping or go out shortly for air," the French president added.

Anyone outside their home will need to carry a written statement justifying their presence outside.


'The economy must not stop'

The new measures echo the eight-week lockdown that France enforced in the spring, when hospitalisations and deaths caused by the Covid-19 virus reached a peak.

But unlike during the two-month lockdown imposed last spring, students up to high-school level will continue to go to school.

Universities, which have been the source of several virus clusters since September, will have online classes only.

Factories and farms will also be allowed to operate, and some public services will function, to limit the economic damage that would come from shutting down the country completely.

Professional athletes will also be permitted to continue training and competing.

"The economy must not stop, nor collapse," Macron said, though working from home will be the norm for companies that can manage it.

He has promised additional financial relief for businesses, acknowledging that many were hoping to stay open ahead of the crucial holiday season that now seems jeopardised.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)   

[celedhring]

Aaand we're entering semi-lockdown here too. Gyms closed, alongside malls, theaters, etc... Also we can't leave our town on weekends. I guess it's okay if we catch Covid during the week, I guess. 

[KRonn]

I'm still working from home. Some of us can go into the office but there are restrictions, masks when near someone, limited numbers of people. I like working from home and for the foreseeable future there's no push for us to go back to the office building.

Good to hear from you, KRonn, stay safe.

You too, stay safe! 

[Iormlund]

Virus has finally breached our defenses. Seven positives and counting in an outbreak at maintenance in the last week, all from the same shift.

Up till now every other case I'm aware of could be explained as coming from outside the plant.

Seeing as we all wear masks my best guess is this was airborne transmission.

[Syt]

Well, Lockdown 2 - Electric Boogaloo is coming and will be announced today.

Our office sent an email that everyone should work from home until further notice. If anyone wants to work at the office, the usual rules apply (one per office), plus keeping 2 meters distance at all times, wearing a mask in public areas and during face to face meetings, though such meetings are strongly discouraged.

The details of the lockdown will be announced by the government today, but the key details that have seeped through are:
- restaurants, bars are closed down (they will receive last year's revenue for the close down period from the state as compensation)
- shops, supermarkets stay open, but we're back to max. 1 customer per 10 square meters
- hairdressers stay open this time
- curfew from 8 pm till 6 am (except for going to work if necessary, prevent danger to life or limb, buying necessities of life, or to get some fresh air/exercise)

[Eddie Teach]

Doesn't sound much like a curfew if "getting fresh air" is a valid reason to be out.

[Syt]

Yeah, but it is what it is. It's pretty near impossible to properly enforce, anyways.