Almost a year after Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Jean Castex tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. The strong man from Matignon had just been declared a contact case for the fourth time in his mandate: a first time in September 2020 with Christian Prudhomme during the Tour de France, a second with Emmanuel Macron in December 2020, a third time due of his wife in June 2021 and Monday, therefore, with his daughter tested positive at school.
Six ministers also contracted the coronavirus during the crisis, like Roselyne Bachelot or Bruno Lemaire, and ten are contact cases of Jean Castex on Tuesday. To believe that the government is showing itself very reckless and lax in the face of an epidemic which it nevertheless never ceases to warn about the threat it represents. And it is not the images of November 16, showing the Prime Minister and Gerald Darmanin without a mask, shaking hands indoors during a meeting with the mayors of Hauts-de-France, that will change this impression.
Abundance of shortcomings
Do what I say, not what I do? In terms of barrier gestures in any case, this is not the first time that a relaxation has been observed at the highest peak of the State. In May 2020, when the first wave was just coming to an end, Emmanuel Macron was displayed without a mask during the commemoration of the fighting in Montcornet facing a masked Xavier Bertrand. A few weeks later, in the height of summer, he was filmed taking walkabouts during his trip to Lebanon. And it is not his Prime Minister who will lecture him. In September 2020, Jean Castex advised the French to download the StopCovid application, essential according to him to slow down the new wave before admitting that he himself did not have it on his phone.
An attitude deplored by public health researcher Mickaël Ehrminger: “We cannot both be publicly surprised at the ‘dazzling fifth wave’ and at the same time show off without a mask. There is an inconsistency that does not lend confidence and respect for sanitary instructions. In addition to the necessary duty of exemplarity to give to a population affected by a year and a half of health crisis, the executive gives the impression of not feeling threatened by the Covid-19 itself.
Superman and vaccine faith
Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, professor of political communication at Sciences Po, denounces “a feeling of superiority and impunity on the part of the government in relation to all that is biological, as if they were political supermen risking nothing facing nature. »To this he adds a very made in France : “Politicians feel above the laws they dictate. “
An overestimation of their own resistance, but also, perhaps, of the effectiveness of the vaccine, the government’s ultimate mantra since the health past. Jean Castex himself said on TF1 on July 21, 2021 that a double vaccinated person – which is his case – “had no more chance of catching the disease” if she met a sick person, an unfounded assertion. Likewise, the lifting of the wearing of a mask in places with a health pass is not based on any scientific proof. “You can be contaminated and contaminate by being vaccinated. We cannot repeat it enough: vaccination and barrier gestures must go together. The vaccine is used to prevent serious forms and to reduce the risk of transmission, barrier gestures are used to further limit the risk of transmission, ”insists Mickaël Ehrminger.
An epidemic ? What epidemic?
Beyond these approximations, it is perhaps from a purely political angle that we must analyze the recklessness of the government. “The executive does not want an overly anxious image a few months before the presidential campaign”, evokes Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, not to mention that the 10% of eligible and unvaccinated people represent a prime electoral target. In this pre-electoral context, the government could therefore be tempted to navigate between promoting barrier gestures and reckless images “so as not to upset a potential electorate or frighten the population”, imagines the communicator.
A risky “at the same time”. In addition to endangering their health and potentially helping to spread the Fifth Wave, this attitude can infuriate public opinion. “The French no longer believe in the ability of their government to respect their own rules, and are in fact questioning the instructions. It is catastrophic in view of the wave that is currently breaking. “The famous meeting of November 16 without a mask indoors and with frank handshakes by Jean Castex took place between Emmanuel Macron’s speech on November 9 where he declared that” the application of barrier gestures must do the subject of increased attention ”and a press conference by government spokesperson Gabriel Attal on November 17 calling for“ obviously to maintain respect for the rules that we have set for ourselves and for barrier gestures. ” Whoops.
Mistake confessed, half repeated
Will seeing the sick Prime Minister finally allow the executive to become aware of the situation and better respect health rules? Reality does not give cause for optimism on this subject. This Tuesday morning, several ministers in contact with Jean Castex all the same went to radio sets, under the good faith of a single negative test … contrary to what the site http://servicepublic.fr recommends. “The Prime Minister having tested positive Monday evening, the least that we can say is that his government is sitting on the risks that it imposes”, Mickaël Ehrminger is in despair. The executive, the eternal donkey cap of barrier gestures.