Evening all. I thought I'd write a post to let you know whats going on here in France, in case it can give you a heads-up about what to expect in the UK in the next week or so. I'm not massively well-informed on the finer details of the national situation, but here are the things that are impacting on my family and daily life.
In the last week, gatherings of over 1000 people (now reduced to 500) have been banned. The local and regional authorities have also cancelled all sporting events e.g. dd5's regional gym competition at the end of the month, and dd4&3's weekend football matches. We haven't been officially told yet, but I imagine all the kids sports clubs will stop this week.
All care homes have stopped allowing visits.
This evening Macron announced that all educational establishments will be closed from Monday, until further notice. It seems likely that they will stay closed until at least the Easter holidays (but that's just my guess). So far, all shops and restaurants etc are still open, and there aren't any food shortages. That said, we are expecting shops (apart from food shops and pharmacies) to close soon, if we follow the same pattern as Italy.
We have stocked up about a week's worth of food (just in case), and have been advised by our friends in northern Italy to buy paint and DIY supplies, as no work + no school = great time to work on the house!
We live in the South of France and it's pretty rural, so the biggest worry here is the economic damage that will be caused by the lack of tourism in the Easter / Summer periods.
The most important advice that I've had from Italy is for elderly / vulnerable people to self-isolate now. Don't wait until the government tell you to.