Parisians flee, sidewalks empty as France enters lockdown
PARIS (AP) — Parisians fleeing for the countryside jammed the roads ahead of France’s lockdown to slow the spread of resurgent coronavirus infections, and there was only a sprinkling of people hurrying along city sidewalks Friday as the nationwide restrictions went into effect.
Dystopian images of logjams that stretched for 435 miles (700 kilometers) at one point Thursday evening — exacerbated by the upcoming long holiday weekend — were a grim sign of a return to the dark days of the spring, when virus cases first swelled in Europe and many countries kept their citizens inside for weeks on end. With infections hitting record levels in some countries, many are now resorting to severe restrictions again.
In France, concerns were growing that rising infections would swamp the country’s health system, so authorities ordered another four-week lockdown beginning Friday. Many areas of the French capital resembled a regular lazy weekend morning — on what would normally have been a bustling weekday. Those who were out frequently clutched permission forms proving they had an exemption that allowed them to to be on streets.
The only places that were busy were grocery stores and markets as people stockpiled food and other necessities.
All of France’s 67 million people have been ordered to stay at home at all times with no visitors, or risk steep fines or prosecution. There are a handful of exceptions, such as being allowed out for one hour of exercise a day within a half-mile (1 kilometer) of home, to go to medical appointments, to a place of work, or to shop for essential goods. Restaurants and cafés are shuttered, apart from those that offer takeout.
“Going to friends’ houses, having friends over and moving around for anything other than the reasons set out” will be impossible, Prime Minister Jean Castex explained firmly on Thursday.
That will hit hard for many.
“It’s not nice because I left my country to enjoy the experience of living in another country,” said Laura Beimberg, 28, an intern at cosmetics giant L’Oreal who is from Mexico. “And this experience of being between four walls, far away from family and friends is so hard.”
French President Emmanuel Macron implemented the lockdown as a last resort to curb the steep spike in infections across the country, where new daily cases are currently averaging around 50,000. That means that, on a per capita basis, France is seeing about two and a half times the number of new cases each day that the United States is.
But France is not alone. Many of its European neighbors are experiencing rising infections, some even beyond what they saw in the spring. In Belgium, the average number of daily cases is around
150 per 100,000 people, compared to France’s approximately 62.
The government in Belgium is meeting Friday to consider even tougher restrictions on movement that would amount to a quasi-lockdown. Germany, which is also seeing an increase in cases though on a much less dramatic scale, agreed this week to a monthlong shutdown of restaurants, bars, theaters and other leisure facilities, dubbed “lockdown light.”
Such measures have taken a brutal toll on economies around Europe, and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire gave grim predictions during an interview on France-Inter, raising his estimate for the depth of the recession. He forecasted an 11% fall in GDP this year.