Lockdown conditions in France

[CroissantsAtDawn]

Ive seen lots of threads with people worrying about lockdown.and how they would cope/ it would be enforced.

Last night, following the President's announcement I received a text message from the government confirming the lockdown for 15 days and linking to a site with details.

From 12 today we are only allowed out to go to work if work from home isnt possible, buy groceries, see a doctor, help elderly/vulnerable family in need (with reminder about barrier actions), to let a dog do its business or for individual physical activity close to home.

Each time you need a paper dated and signed explaining why you are out. Infringements are fined 38-135 euros. The paper can be downloaded and printed, shown on your phone or just hand written.

100 000 police and army personnel are being deployed to enforce the conditions.

No mention of how children can exercise. Just that parks etc are closed and there should be no family or friends gathering.

We are going to test going out early for run with 1 DC each and hope that is allowed in "individual activity". If its not I ll stand on the doorstep and watch them run up and down the road (2 highly active boys living in a flat....)

solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/note_enfants_ecoles_environnements_familiaux_24_avri_2020.pdf

Link to the full conseil advice here. It looks pretty much unworkable to me.

Watcha I agree, for the staff, the children, the school bus, parents, everyone in fact.
DS is in 5ème so he is in the last wave to return at the end of May. I really doubt he will.

School buses won't work then. Not only are there different year groups on the bus, but the bus serves 3 colleges and 2 Lycées.

Oh great so now the local authorities of Alsace want all our school opening to be delayed until 25th of May. DS really needs to go back, I can't do the homeschooling any more..

Ugh I understand!

DH pointed out I ll have DS1 (CE2) for another 4 weeks at home (DH will be back at the office - I ll be WFH until both DC are back at the same time and for the whole day). He is not the easiest of children at the best of times - he's really struggling with lockdown and not being as active as usual.

Will go and see if Paris is saying anything in particular.

I haven’t looked but can we at least go out to parks etc with the other kids after May 11?

To my knowledge nothing has been said about that. Id hope that parks will be open but as restaurants etc won't be, then I wouldn't be surprised if they keep parks shut too to prevent everyone from descending en masse.

Nothing in particular is said about Paris except that they're hoping to make wearing a mask obligatory when in public... we have no masks so that would be so annoying.

@CroissantsAtDawn I'm making masks. I can put some in the post if you want.

Everybody here will get 2 reusable masks from local government.

Even if parks are closed, I assume they are at least allowed to play on the street? Small village here, children are used to wildly roaming around.

Tbh, and this very much reflects our personal circs (older children, wfh part time etc) I’d be happy to just have them able to meet with friends, whether it’s at home, in a park or at school - it’s my only reason to send them back.

Watcha my feelings too, DS is 13 and although he is in contact with his friends virtually I can't imagine him not seeing them until September. I'm pretty sure the ados association where he usually goes in the summer will be shut too.

Hopefully things will become clearer tomorrow at 15H when Edouard Philippe goes into more detail about the deconfinement.

Apologies as my french is abysmal but I was just wondering what was being done about schools returning in France? I

@Letseatgrandma

The majority of this thread is in English and there are many, many recent posts discussing this.

(Apologies if you were being ironic)

I just read the recommendations of the Conseil...pretty much unworkable almost all of them. I can’t see young children wearing masks, even older ones will struggle, the masks are very hot and quite uncomfortable to wear (I am an adult, I can live with it, but I don’t see how 3-5 year olds will comply, and even older ones may struggle with the mask when playing). The 1m distance assumes massive classrooms and play areas, which is not the case in our school. Even though it is rural and there is outside space, the classrooms, corridors, etc are already crammed. Even collecting the children while keeping the 1m rule will be difficult with many set ups, not to mention that parents of more than one child will need to hang around for a while with a staggered collection time.

It all goes out of the window with the garderie and the cantine when all the children will mix anyway.

I was hoping they would come up with more effective measures or keep the schools closed, they all sounds very poorly though out.

I think it's unworkable for many schools. A friend who teaches in a brand new collège here told me it's built all on one level, and the chances of pupils being able to move around without being under 1m from one another are zero. She thinks it may just not open on May 11th - but the issue will be the same in Sept, TBH.

In DS2's primary school, about 50% of kids go home for lunch - the ones who could most do with a balanced canteen meal (they are good in his canteen, lots of local and organic produce, carefully thought-out menus, etc.). But as they are the same 50% who have also vanished since mid-March and not been doing remote learning, I doubt they'll return if it's not obligatory, while the other 50% have working parents who may not be WFH after 11th May and might need school lunchs, esp if grandparents are less likely to step in.

If he goes back, DS2 will come home for lunch. It's a 3min scooter commute ;)

The Conseil clearly think it's a bad plan, which is hardly reassuring. But at some point, people are going to have to begin circulating again...

I've had a long questionnaire to fill in from one union about the return to work and what I think is possible/advisable.

Our maternelle is all in the same classroom, and maternelle and primary are next to each other, sharing the same playground. No way to ensure the classes don't mix.

The conseil paper posted above is so very..French. This should be ensured and that should be ensured - but would they give any advice how all those ideas should be ensured? Might as well write that teachers must ensure the virus is not transmitted..

And the report from the Senat... it will be interesting to see what the govt comes out with, given that both the conseil scientifique and the Senat are demanding such stringent standards regarding sanitation and social distancing.

www.senat.fr/fileadmin/Fichiers/Images/communication/Culture/GT_enseignement_scolaire_retour_des_eleves_en_classe_synthese-1.pdf

@KatharinaRosalie

To be fair, the conseil are there to give the (evidence-based) scientific information that informs the government's decisions. It's up to the govt to make the decisions based on the information that is put in front of them - from the conseil scientifique and probably many other expert bodies. Presumably they will also be receiving reports on the economic and social impacts of returning to school (or not) and they have to balance all of these. The conseil don't have the authority (I assume) to tell schools or mairies how to organise themselves - that's up the the govt.

Fair enough, just thought it would be helpful if they, being experts, would have maybe offered some suggestions how all those things could be ensured. Because at the moment, as others have also said, it seems like a challenge.

I suppose it's a bit odd to announce that schools will open and to also offer scientific advice that cannot be carried out in practice...perhaps it will all become clearer tomorrow.

That's why the head of the Conseil described the decision to reopen on 11th May as "political" - because they are not enthused by it and think it should wait till Sept.
Their role is to present the science, not the practicalities of how to act upon its ramifications...

Fair enough, I didn't realize they were in disagreement.

The Senat report says (as I understand it), quite pointedly, that many of the groups they spoke to - teaching unions, local education authorities - were "surprised" by the announcement of the 11 May date, as it had not been mentioned to them previously in any discussions leading up to that announcement, and that they were under the impression that a return date of sometime between June and September was being considered. Plus, despite the fact that the govt claims to be led by science, they announced the 11 May date before receiving the report and advice from the conseil scientifique. So they had already decided on that date, irrespective of what the unions, local authorities, scientific advisers were going to say. That's why that date is a political decision.

Our primary school have asked us to complete a small survey:

Nous faisons suite à l'annonce de la réouverture progressive des écoles à partir du 11 mai .
Les modalités d'accueil de vos enfants lors de cette réouverture dépendront de la doctrine sanitaire que présentera le Premier ministre au cours de cette semaine.
En attendant les directives ministérielles , notre hiérarchie nous demande de recenser pour le JEUDI 30 AVRIL le nombre de familles ( si la garderie & la cantine refonctionnent ) qui :
□ souhaitent remettre leur(s) enfant(s) à l'école
○ avec cantine
○ sans cantine
○ avec garderie
○ sans garderie
Les familles qui
□ ne souhaitent pas du tout remettre leur(s) enfant(s) à l'école pour le moment.
Les parents qui travaillent en tant que :
○ soignants,
○force de l'ordre
○ASE

I guess that they will adapt as best they can once they know how many children will be returning.

Will send our two back as soon as we can. We both work from home as a matter of course anyway And don’t hang out with any vulnerable people.