The Martinicans will have to stay at home three more weeks. The containment and curfew in force since July 30 in Martinique have been extended until September 19 inclusive, to fight against the spread of the coronavirus, according to a press release Tuesday from the island’s prefecture.
“The current health situation does not allow the lifting of the current measures”, explained the prefect Stanislas Cazelles. To decide on this extension, in addition to the situation in the hospital which remains worrying, he relied on the 3,211 new cases of Covid-19 identified between August 16 and 22.
Maintain the return to school?
The waiting list for a place in intensive care is still very long despite a capacity increased from 20 to a hundred beds. On the other hand, the incidence rate fell over seven days to 875 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, against 1,200 previously.
This decision of the prefect comes when Pascal Jean, the rector of the academy, launched consultations on the advisability of maintaining the start of the school year on September 2. The education unions as well as those of the parents of pupils have already requested a postponement of this start of the school year, even if it means readjusting the school holiday calendar.
Serge Letchimy, president of the executive council of Martinique, for his part decided last week to postpone the re-entry of community agents assigned to colleges and high schools which was scheduled for August 23. “Without the cleaning of these establishments, we do not see how the pupils will be able to carry out this re-entry”, noted parents of pupils.
Martinique has recorded 405 hospital deaths due to Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, including 162 between August 9 and 22. Only 22.51% of inhabitants aged 12 and over have completed their vaccination course.