Starting this week France will go back into a nationwide lockdown to try to contain the COVID-19. The new measures stated which will come into force on Friday and will last until December 1, that people have to stay in their homes except to buy essential goods, seek medical attention, or use their daily one-hour allocation of exercise. In the beginning, the lockdown was effective at containing the virus, but it started spreading again after relaxing the rules.
France has reported 523 new deaths from coronavirus during
the last 24 hours, the highest daily toll when the virus was at its most
severe. “France’s death toll is more than 35,000 and is the seventh highest in
the world” according to Reuters News Agency data.
Earlier this month, Macron announced a nighttime curfew in
Paris and other big cities, but now officials have recognized that this measure
had proved not enough to bring down infection rates, and therefore calling for more
severe response.
5 comments:
I feel like many countries will go back into complete lockdown again until there is a vaccine. It is no surprise that France is going through this. The U.S has to be careful because statistics show that perhaps we are also headed in the same direction. More concrete news will start to show in a month or two and it will also come down to election results. All we can do is hope for the best!
I think the comparison between the United States and Europe controlling the virus has been very intriguing. It seemed that most of Europe was doing very well with the virus up until a few weeks ago, and now we can see they have had a total relapse. While the United States has not had a wild outbreak, we have been steadily increasing. I think that a shutdown is an interesting tactic by France, but I can't see something like this being employed with our current administration. Trump has made it clear that he would like to keep the economy open even in the midst of growing COVID cases. Trump has also always been very optimistic about a vaccine. I wonder how this compares to France and other countries in Europe because that could be a major factor in whether a country believes a shutdown is necessary. Only time will tell, but with increasing cases around the world, we are heading the wrong direction.
It is fascinating to see how countries are handling the COVID-19 pandemic differently. As Chase alluded to, it appears most European countries have been favoring lockdowns when cases are increasing, however the United States has remained optimistic that a shutdown will not be required again. It will be interesting to see how the economy reacts to the election, as if Trump remains in office, there seems to be a strong possibility that a lockdown will not occur. However, if Biden wins there seems a higher probability. October has been a poor performing month for the stock market, largely attributed to rising COVID cases and election uncertainty. It would be interesting to see economic performances from companies that have remained out of lockdown to those who have favored lockdowns over both the short and long runs.
I agree with Max and Chase that US has handled the situation completely differently. In my opinion, this is mainly due to the elections, as most people dont want to lose their jobs or want to be in a lockdown, and hence are less likely to vote for a person who puts the country in to lockdown. There is more politics going on in these matters rather than genuine care for the wellbeing of the people.
It is interesting to see how quick they are willing to take the steps towards another lock-down. I personally think this is where the US is heading again with Covid cases reaching record breaking numbers recently. How bad does it have to get before we deem a lock-down necessary? Do you think the US will be willing to lock-down again like France to gain control over this virus?
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