How I feel about Confinement in France
I’ve been asked a lot about what I think about the lock down procedures and restrictions that have been put in place in France during the corona virus outbreak.
I was in Florida for the first 3 months of the pandemic. I remember feeling very frightened in the beginning and didn’t even want to go to the supermarket. Little by little, I found comfort in small things. Smaller crowds, disinfected trolleys, etc. What I didn’t like was the fact that some people wore masks and some people didn’t. I always did and I resented the ones who didn’t (although I never said anything). Where I was living was pretty quiet so the supermarket was never very crowded. I was lucky to live in a community that was situated on a private beach so I was outside a lot and there were very few people there .
When I arrived in France on the 1st of July, the streets were buzzing. The strict lockdown that kept people in their homes for most of the spring had been lifted and European borders were now open. The South of France looked like it always does in the summer. Busy! The only thing missing were the Americans. I was quite shocked and in the beginning I didn’t want to go out too much because it was very crowded. The markets, the beaches, everything that is fun to do was too busy for me. Hand gel is everywhere. One cannot enter a store without using hand gel and masks are required of everyone. I think this is a good idea but I can’t help but question what happens at the supermarket where none of the trolleys are disinfected and people are still using their bare hands to hand pick your bread at the Boulangerie 😩.
Once summer was over, the cases rose and new restrictions were put in place. Personally, I was relieved. In France, they decided to keep schools open and asked everyone to work from home. I think that this was a good decision because it gave some sort of routine to the day and also allowed the kids to have a sense of normality. In our case, Pia has been in school since September and so far, that hasn’t changed. That being said, I’m worried about what will happen after all of the holiday reunions.
By October, they decided to put distance restrictions and curfews. This meant that one was allowed to go to and from work, to the doctor and to the supermarket. There was an allowance of 1 hour of exercise and no further than 1 kilometer from home. All of this was monitored and we had to fill out a form (which is located on a phone application) detailing the reason for the outing. I feel very restricted as I live in the center of town. My 1 kilometer doesn’t get me very far outside of the city and I was longing to take bigger walks and get into the countryside. I actually took a risk and made my way to a park which is about 2 kilometers from my address. I was never questioned but many people were stopped and I saw the police always patrolling the streets.
Once distance restrictions were finally lifted, we were allowed to travel 20 kilometers from home and stay out for 3 hours. This was better and gave me a little more freedom. Just a couple of weeks later, it was Christmas and they lifted all travel restrictions but imposed an 8:00 p.m. curfew. This was to allow people to visit family throughout France during the holidays. It was strongly advised to be no more than 6 people, which I’m not sure many people followed.
Bars, restaurants and gyms have been closed for quite a while and they are not planning on re-opening until the end of January. This will only happen if the numbers stay low.
How do I feel about this? A lot of people have called these measures draconian, dictatorial, etc. If I am honest about it, I will tell you that I find comfort in a government which is trying to control this situation. It is keeping even the ones who are likely to ignore the basic restrictions (mask wearing, hand gel, etc) in control. My neighbor, who is a very nice guy, doesn’t like the restrictions. He thinks they don’t apply to him. He was woken up one night when he went out to walk his dog. He wasn’t wearing his mask and he was fined 130 euros. He was furious and told the officer that he was smoking so he couldn’t smoke and wear a mask at the same time. The cop wasn’t buying it and he got fined. He told me the story and was so annoyed but guess what? He didn’t do it again.
I looked at the numbers last night. They are updated daily in the app I mentioned earlier. There are 12,500 cases today, in all of France. Yesterday it was 3,500 and it’s one week after Christmas. I looked, for comparison, at the numbers in Florida (because that’s where I was before). In Sarasota, alone, there are 19,270 new cases today. That is just the county. In Florida there are 1,365,436 cases today.
So, when I’m asked what I think about the restrictions in France. I don’t like it. It’s been difficult living through it. It is lonely. The bars and restaurants are closed and there are very few people on the streets. There are no gatherings and no way to see people. I don’t like that. What I do like is the fact that there is control of the situation. We still have cases. It will get worse before it gets better but it isn’t out of control. When I go out to the supermarket everyone has a mask on. No, not everyone is happy about it but they don’t have a choice. It feels safer. There isn’t all of this hostility and conspiracy about the virus. People here believe that it is real.
I miss the U.S. and I really miss Florida but for the moment, I feel safe in France and am looking forward to the day that everything opens again and we can enjoy what we love about the area. It’s worth the wait.