UPDATE 10th December: Confinement/Deconfinement


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What I’m still puzzling over is what is the guidance now about the number of people round a dinner table?

“Les rĂ©unions privĂ©es devront ĂȘtre limitĂ©es, a averti le chef de l’Etat ce mardi. Il faudra donc limiter au maximum le nombre d’adultes rĂ©unis dans une mĂȘme piĂšce et respecter les mesures sanitaires. “

Is it 6 people? 10people? 20 people?

Isn’t it meant to be fleshed out by Jean Castex today like the last time.

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If it is not laid-down
 it will be left to the common sense of those who are mixing together


He has asked that Christmas and New Year family gatherings be kept to a minimum
 which seems a reasonable guideline to begin with


I hope Castex will expand as otherwise it’s a confusing mess. For some families it is normal to have 20 people around a dining table (not just at christmas) so they may well have different idea of what “a minimum” is.

Surely people can work it out for themselves by now. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the TV spot that shows a family meal for Mamie’s birthday


Nope, not seen that advert
but then adverts are always the moment to do something else.

I don’t think it is clear. Yesterday the news was full of the government telling sncf to run 100% of trains to allow people to go home - which gives a different message. Chatting to a neighbour this morning she said how good it was that christmas could carry on as normal
 (she has three children and 7 grandchildren, so 15 people
)

Macron is appealing to families’ common sense to weigh up the risks for themselves. Meanwhile, over in Blighty, Johnson’s lax bubble rules for Christmas look likely lead to a third wave.

My completely unscientific straw poll suggests this message is not getting through. Although perhaps a bit is as we’ve just had a request to book our gite from a neighbour so they will have more room


I would think it unwise to expect that a ‘normal’ Christmas with proximity indoors and lots of hugging will be a good idea.

Well Macron and co have much more work to do to drive that message home.

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your neighbour is obviously not understanding the message
 Macron clearly said that Christmas/New Year will NOT be like the others

“Il ne s’agira pas de vacances de NoĂ«l comme les autres” : lors de son allocution tĂ©lĂ©visĂ©e ce mardi, Emmanuel Macron a donnĂ© le ton. Si le confinement doit ĂȘtre levĂ© dĂšs le 15 dĂ©cembre si la situation sanitaire le permet, les fĂȘtes de fin d’annĂ©e auront un caractĂšre spĂ©cial. On fait le point.

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Hopefully people will work out for themselves that if the number of infections rises then more people will get sick and die and the confinement and/or curfew will continue. If physical distancing is taken seriously the govt will be able to loosen things up. Carrots and donkeys come to mind.

This is what Prof Andrew Hayward, a member of the government’s Sage advisory committee, thinks of household mixing at Christmas,

Effectively what this will be doing is throwing fuel on the Covid fire.

He said household mixing at Christmas would “likely lead to a third wave” and is a “recipe for regret”.

The same message applies to France and indeed any other country. I’m sure some people will show common sense but unfortunately many won’t.

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Not being a fan of christmas 2 seems to be the optimum number for christmas dining.

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Yes I don’t think appealing to people’s common sense will work. This second confinement has shown how little people respect rules. I think they need to set out extremely clear instructions of what is considered acceptable and what isn’t. As in if your table is 2m long then that is only big enough for 4 people at correct social distancing, no more.

You all seem to have more faith that people will actually pay any attention to Macron amd Castex than I do.

Most families will ignore this as it will be the usual “It won’t happen to us gov, it’s only one day” most will take it as the go ahead to have a normal xmas, cue third wave mid January.
This applies to here, the UK and the USA.

Seems to me that folk need to understand what they are being told by Macron and Castex
 that would be a good first step
 :roll_eyes: :zipper_mouth_face: :wink:

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And to do that the public authorities at all levels need to stop giving out mixed or vague messages.

I really can’t see anything vague in Macron’s message
 Christmas and Reveillon will NOT be as usual


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