# COVID-19 pandemic in France

The COVID-19 pandemic in France is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

## Quotes

* The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global health, social and economic crisis. Historical comparisons are few, particularly in recent decades. This tragedy constitutes nothing less than a trial for all humanity. [...] What has since become abundantly apparent is the destructive influence of behavioral economics and the so-called "nudge theory" of political decision-making, which relies on incentives and stimuli to steer individual behavior, rather than coercion or restraint. [...] It is also worth recalling that French officials adopted this very same approach until March 14. Macron initially refused to adopt strict containment measures because, as he stated on March 6, "restrictive measures are not sustainable over time." As he exited the theater he had attended that very same day with his wife, he declared "Life goes on. There is no reason, save for vulnerable populations, to change our social behaviors." Lurking beneath these words, which seem utterly irresponsible today, one cannot help but detect a tactic in which this libertarian paternalism allowed governments to defer the draconian measures they knew would necessarily disrupt their economies. Nonetheless, the eventual failure of libertarian paternalism to contain the virus compelled the political authorities to radically change course. In France, our first glimpse of this shift was Macron's Presidential Speech on March 12, in which he appealed to national unity, to our sacred union, and to the French people's "strength of character." Macron’s next speech on March 16 was even more explicit in its martial posture and rhetoric: it is time for general mobilization, for "patriotic self-restraint," because "we are now at war." The figure of the sovereign state now manifests itself in its most extreme but also its most classic form: that of the sword that strikes the enemy, "who is there, invisible, elusive and advancing."
** Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot, The pandemic as political trial: the case for a global commons (March 28, 2020), ROAR Magazine
* But there was an even more surprising twist in the president’s March 12 address: Emmanuel Macron was suddenly and almost miraculously transformed into a staunch defender of the welfare state, and of public health. He even affirmed the impossibility of reducing everything to the logic of the market! Many commentators and politicians, several of whom are on the left, eagerly welcomed Macron's recognition of the irreplaceable importance of our public services. Yet what we witnessed here was really little more than a delayed response to Macron's public confrontation with a doctor during his visit to the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital on February 27. The doctor, a professor of neurology, insisted Macron provide the public hospitals with an "investment shock" ("choc d’attractivité"), and Macron assented to the doctor's demands, at least in principle. It was of course immediately recognized that Macron's subsequent pronouncements were completely hollow, and they in no way called into the question the neoliberal policies his government has methodically pursued for years.
** Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot, The pandemic as political trial: the case for a global commons (March 28, 2020), ROAR Magazine
* We are extremely skeptical of Macron's promise to be the first leader to question "our developmental model" after the crisis is over, and there are plenty of reasons to think that the drastic economic measures currently in place will eventually share the same fate as those enacted during the 2008 economic crisis: we will likely see a concerted effort to "return to normal" — i.e., return to our otherwise uninterrupted destruction of the planet amidst increasingly conditions of social inequality. And we fear the enormous stimulus packages designed to "save the economy" will once again be borne on the backs of the lowest-paid workers and taxpayers.
** Christian Laval and Pierre Dardot, The pandemic as political trial: the case for a global commons (March 28, 2020), ROAR Magazine
* Il faut pouvoir tenir. Si on prend des mesures qui sont très contraignantes, ce n'est pas tenable dans la durée.
** You have to be able to hold on. If we take measures that are very restrictive, they will not be sustainable over time.
*** Emmanuel Macron, quoted in Coronavirus: «Des mesures très contraignantes, ce n’est pas tenable dans la durée», estime Emmanuel Macron, 6 March 2020, La Voix du Nord
* La vie continue. Il n'y a aucune raison, mis à part pour les populations fragilisées, de modifier nos habitudes de sortie.
** Life goes on. There is no reason, save for the vulnerable populations, to change our social behaviors.
*** Emmanuel Macron, quoted in Emmanuel et Brigitte Macron au théâtre pour inciter les Français à sortir malgré le coronavirus, 7 March 2020, BFM TV.
* We will not paralyse the economic and social life of the country. When the epidemic is here, it is above all a question of organising the emergency and care systems, and ensuring the continuity of state services, without preventing citizens from living.
** Olivier Véran, as quoted in 'We won't paralyse the country': What are France's plans to deal with coronavirus?, 6 March 2020, The Local
* We (France) are going to have patients suspected of having the (COVID-19) virus, there are going to be (more) cases.
** Yazdan Yazdanpanah (2020) cited in: "French carmaker to evacuate expats from virus-hit Chinese city" in Borneo Post Online, 26 January 2020.
* [The Omicron variant is] spreading at lightning speed [in Europe and will likely become dominant in France by the start of next year]
* ... not acceptable that the refusal of a few million French people to be vaccinated puts the life of an entire country at risk
** Jean Castex Covid-19: Omicron spreading at lightning speed - French PM (December 18)

## See also

* COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
* COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
* COVID-19 pandemic in India
* COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
* COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
* COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

## See also

* COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil
* COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
* COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba
* COVID-19 pandemic in France
* COVID-19 pandemic in India
* COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan
* COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom