Confinement Day 52: Working Outside and Sad Map

We've had really amazing weather for most of this period.of confinement. The boys and Frédéric worked together today to make a fence out of the remains of the old garden shed to keep Gala out of the vegetable garden.

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Edouard Philippe, the prime minister, and several other ministers spoke this afternoon to let us know what life will look like starting May 11th. We'd been following a map like this for a few days, tracking red, yellow, and green zones. Our department, Aisne (02), turned yellow a few days ago, but sadly, in the final map, we've turned red again. The three criteria used are: active circulation of the virus (we're at 6-10% of ER visits being for COVID-19), hospital capacity (we're at 80% of ICU beds being used for COVID-19), and testing capacity (100%, nationwide).

Seeing our area turn red when it had started to improve was a letdown. The government explained that the trends have to be ongoing, so the short amount of time our department showed improvement wasn't enough yet.

On the bright side, both red and green zones will be deconfined May 11th, with some regulations that will remain for the next three weeks. For example, we're not being allowed to travel more than 100 km from home, in a different department, without a good reason (work, or urgent family reasons). Gatherings are limited to 10 people or fewer. Stores will open, but restaurants and bars won't yet. The government encourages those who can work remotely to continue to do so. "Altruistic" masks will be required in public transportation, and to use public transportation during rush hour, you'll need a statement saying you're going to or from work, or have another allowable reason to be on transportation at that time.

In the red zones, the main differences at this point seem to be that parks remain closed and middle schools won't open yet, though primary schools will open as possible based on local ability to follow the recommended guidelines.

The government plans to re-evaluate the situation in three weeks - early June - and we'll see what the next steps or conditions are then.