Editorial Comment:
The lockdown is effectively over. In a country that has been one of the worst affected by the coronavirus, a return to normality is well under way. Sadly, we are talking not about the UK, but France. Cafés, restaurants and bars across the country are now open again after Paris joined other regions in removing most of the restrictions imposed in March. Almost all schools will be required to open fully before the summer, while unfettered travel to other European countries is now allowed, except to the UK because of our inexplicable 14-day quarantine.
While France had an earlier and harsher lockdown than here, the death toll is unlikely to be greatly different when excess fatality statistics are finally available. Perhaps we are slower to emerge because we are a little behind in the trajectory of the disease, with the number of daily hospital fatalities now dropping below three figures.
We are making some progress. The opening of all shops in England yesterday, with lengthy queues at many suggesting pent-up demand is being released, is welcome after a three-month hibernation. But for as long as the two-metre social-distancing rule remains in place, recovery will be harder to achieve. Indeed, crowds outside shops are inevitable when so few customers can get in at any one time. It is also disconcerting to see so many people out shopping when most children are still not able to go to school.
France has a one-metre rule which means most schools can open – albeit at 50 per cent classroom capacity – and the hospitality sector can attract enough custom to make ends meet. Here, efforts to get the economy moving are hampered by the greater distancing that shops, restaurants, bars and the rest have to impose.
In a televised address to the French nation on Sunday, Emmanuel Macron said the worst was over and a “first victory” could be declared. He has been prepared to acknowledge mistakes early on in the pandemic but is evidently determined to get his country’s economy moving again. Elsewhere in Europe, border controls are being removed across the Schengen area as life returns to normal without any sign of a second wave, despite sporadic outbreaks in various places. Italy has opened its frontiers and Spain is even allowing German tourists to visit the Balearic Islands.
Continental Europe is waking up. We need to join them.