Diary of Covid-19 confinement, day forty-four

Raindrops on roses

Day forty-four, 29^th April 2020

Thank you

I am a little overwhelmed by the number of lovely messages I have received following yesterday’s sad post about losing our nephew Ben. Thank you for all your love and support, it is a great help to us, and I know his parents are also getting a lot of strength from reading them too. We all have a lot of fantastic memories of happy family times, especially when Ed, Ben and his brother Alex were little, and we are taking comfort from remembering the good times. It still feels too soon to fully accept he is gone.

Summary of Covid-19 deconfinement from French government

Update from French government on deconfinement

The French Prime Minister Edouard Phillippe spoke on Tuesday about what comes next here in France. Thanks to lockdown, 62,000 lives have been saved in France, in a month, but here, as everywhere, there needs to be a balance between preventing the spread of Covid-19 and risking lives if the economy fails completely. We have to understand the risks of an economic crisis as if there is a lack of work, people can’t afford to eat, there are no taxes coming in, so no revenue to fund a health service and people will die.

The Prime Minister’s message was that Covid-19 is here to stay, so we have to learn to live with it and until a vaccine is found, our way of life is going to change. On the assumption that between now and 11^th May there have been no major increases in cases, things will begin to open up, in stages, in an attempt to avoid a second wave of infection. The first stage will be the three weeks to 2^nd June and every twenty-one days the situation will be evaluated.

He said the focus will be to protect, test and isolate. Social distancing will remain important, and masks will need to be worn in certain circumstances. The government is making twenty million masks available to the public that they are hoping will be distributed before 11^th May and their aim is to test around 700,000 people per week. They are expecting 3,000 to test positive and these people will need to quarantine themselves either at home, or in a government requisitioned hotel.

Decisions will be made by the government on a department by department basis, based on the number of cases and spread of the virus in each area and this could mean some areas not being freed from lockdown on 11^th May. A map will be made available by 7^th May identifying the departments most at risk.

Schools, but not lycees or universities, will begin to reopen with a maximum of fifteen pupils per class, and parents have the right to keep their children at home. 

Businesses may also reopen, but home working is still recommended where possible and social distancing will have to be followed.

Bars, restaurants, large shopping centres, cinemas, theatres, churches and large museums must remain closed. Small museums and libraries may open. 

Some parks will open, depending on the risk in the area, but beaches are to remain closed and there will be no festivals or large gatherings until September.

Public transport will begin a limited service, but only one seat in two can be used and masks must be worn.

We will no longer need to fill in a form before leaving home, unless we are travelling over 100km, which can only be done for work or family reasons and where possible we should remain within our department.

We can now exercise further away from home than the one kilometre radius but must respect social distancing, and no more than ten people should be together at any time, for any reason.

Stay safe and keep those special ones you love safe too.

Collioure 29th April 2012

April holiday memory

As it looks like it will be a while before we are all able to get away on holiday, I hope you have enjoyed looking back at just some of the beautiful parts of France we have visited over the years, I know I have. Today I am going back to 29^th April 2012 when we arrived in Collioure, on the Mediterranean, for the first time. We had spent the day driving in the Pyrenees, crossing from France, to Spain and back again and eventually catching a glimpse of the Mediterranean as we wound our way down from the mountains. Collioure is a beautiful place that was vibrant and full of life when we arrived, but our favourite time was when it was calm and quiet the following morning, before the hustle of the day had begun.