France Offers Another Glimmer of Hope on Covid
The virus’s spread tentatively appears to be slowing, even as schools and workplaces are kept open.
Will it be enough?
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergWhen Nobel Prize-winning economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee urged France’s Emmanuel Macron in September to impose a tough three-week circuit-breaker lockdown to halt the spread of Covid-19 in time for Christmas, they were politely ignored. Macron’s health minister, Olivier Veran, dismissed such planning as “pie in the sky” and said lockdowns were to be avoided.
Six weeks later, the economists look prescient. Covid’s second wave has been brutal in France with daily deaths now averaging around 500 versus 70 at end-September. The number of patients in hospitals is above where it was at the peak of the first wave, and intensive-care occupancy isn’t far off. France may not be alone in this struggle, but it has the highest total caseload in Europe and the third-highest death toll behind the U.K. and Italy (unadjusted for population). On Oct. 30, the country began a national lockdown.