I would like to greet you from Europe and offer the friendship of Justice and Peace here. After all, we are facing the same problems during this pandemic and we are all working for justice and peace. I’m sure we share some experiences.
In France, the first cases of COVID-19 were detected on 24 January. On 24 March we had 22,302 confirmed cases and 1,100 dead in hospital. There may be more dead in care homes and in general, but they are not documented yet. Since 17 March we have been living with relatively strict confinement measures, which are generally well respected. There are of course exceptions in some parts.
Health services are under severe strain. This is especially true for the east of the country and Paris. We haven’t had masks and other personal equipment, or ventilators. Nor has a wide spread campaign to test been possible because the necessary kits for testing have not been available.
Information is sometimes contradictory and the media has stirred heated conflicts around scientific debate. The best example is the question using Chloroquine as a medication in hospitals.
As in many other countries, people invent new forms of solidarity in order to distribute food and other necessary items. New forms of connectedness via social media are replacing missing physical contact. Radio stations, traditionally quite strong in France, have adapted their programmes and provide some source of comfort. Newspapers struggle more because of the restrictions on mail delivery and the confinement in general.
Two days before the confinement – I think you refer to it as ‘lockdown’ - a first round of local elections had been organised to renew city councils in about 30,000 French communes. However, the vote for new mayors couldn't go ahead. In the remaining 5,000 communes, a second round of the elections is necessary but has been postponed at least to the second half of June. In general, the elections suffered. On the eve of the poll, people were told to go to vote but restaurants and pubs were ordered to close. These conflicting messages led many people to stay at home.
Highbrow journals such as Revue des Deux Mondes Esprit, and Etudes refer to Albert Camus’ novel La Peste and compare the crisis responses of Western and Eastern societies - one stressing the freedom of the individual, the other its responsibility.
There are no masses, and with funerals being restricted in attendance and only held at cemeteries, the Church in France is limited to social media and initiatives like the ringing of all bells in France on the evening of the Annunciation Day on 25 March and lighting candles in homes.
People are no longer accustomed to stay at home for longer periods and apartments, especially in urban areas, are not designed for this. The real test for French society, as for you in Scotland, will be the impact of confinement measures after three or four weeks. Bon courage.