The French lockdown lasts a week longer than in Italy, but the reopening will be less gradual and will take place leaving a large margin of discretion to local authorities. Although the task force studying the plan had hypothesized a different plan for the regions, President Emmanuel Macron, in the wake of the transalpine centralist tradition, ultimately opted for a "Jacobin" solution, i.e. a single framework for the whole country in which, however, derogations at a territorial level will be allowed. There will necessarily be exceptions, given that the spread of the virus beyond the Alps, as well as in Italy, is very heterogeneous: even there, in principle, it is in any case the North (Paris and the area bordering Germany and Belgium) that to have been more impressed.
The reopening on May 11 will be almost total: all shops (except bars and restaurants), while respecting safety conditions, factories (for example, the automotive sector is already starting up again these days), and even schools. The return will be gradual but already after May 10, leaving however the choice to the parents, with no obligation to be present, the first and fifth grade classes will return to the classroom, and it will continue in brackets for middle and high school until 25 May. In France, the school year ends at the end of June, so the return is not only symbolic. Even the elderly, the most exposed segment of the population, will eventually be allowed to move: they will not be forced to stay at home, as was initially said, but there will only be an invitation to be cautious.
Green light also for public transport, with the strict obligation to wear a mask. The distancing is considered too complicated and therefore the means will resume almost at full capacity, even if the invitation remains, for all companies and workers who can, to avoid travel and to continue activities in smart working. The network of the Paris metropolitan area, for example, will restart at 70% for the classic lines and even 100% in the case of driverless metros. Only around the capital, therefore, is expected the displacement of 8 million people: less than the usual 12 million, but much more than the 2 million that would end up being if the quota criteria were also applied. Moreover, there is a big problem with the same masks in France too: they are not easily found.
The only real restriction that will remain on May 11 is the ban on moving between different regions, and as mentioned the closure of bars and restaurants, for which we will have to wait for June 15th, even if home delivery is already allowed, as in Italy. France therefore accelerates its recovery, the "deconfinement" as they call it, also encouraged by a contagion that seems to be contained: according to the first epidemiological study by the Institut Pasteur, only 5,7% of French people have been infected with the virus (12% in Paris) and after five weeks of confinement the R0 rate dropped to 0,5.
