France is now in a nationwide lockdown – and I couldn’t be happier. It began Oct. 30. Before it was implemented, the government tried a 9pm curfew. It didn’t work. Cases were skyrocketing – far worse than our European neighbours. Now, we must behave.
We must stay at home. No visitors. If we leave home, it can only be for a few, very specific reasons. We are allowed to go out once a day for exercise – but can go no farther than 1 km. from home and must be back within one hour. We are allowed to go shopping for essentials. It’s easy to determine what is – or is not – considered essential. Stores that do not sell anything that is considered essential are not allowed to open. Stores that sell both essential items (groceries) and nonessential items (toys, for example) must cordon off the nonessential shelves and aisles.
We must have with us at all times a government document (Attestation de Déplacement Dérogatoire). We indicate why we are leaving our home and at what time we left. There is a hefty fine for not having the document or breaking any of the conditions.
As of November 29, the lockdown has had the desired effect – a dramatic drop in Daily New Cases. Let’s hope that as restrictions are eased, people don’t think this means they can return to life as it was before the lockdown. A quick glance at the spike in the graph below should tell anyone this would not be a good idea.