Residents and business owners in Marseille, a port city in southern France, have lashed out at the country’s latest COVID lockdown orders they say will crush restaurants and destroy the economy for an unproven approach that may do little to affect the virus’ spread.
The French government – like others in Europe – has been grappling with a record high level of coronavirus infections in recent weeks. But residents in Marseille have protested the latest measures from Paris, have vowed not to adhere to them, and have promised lawsuits. They say the restrictions are too severe.
The Associated Press reported last week that these residents have followed the lead of Rensaud Muselier, the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Muselier said the new restrictions from Paris would restrict “the exercise of the freedom to do business in a disproportionate way.”
The second lockdown resulted in a two-week shutdown for all bars, restaurants, and gyms in the city. The Daily Mail reported the decision was in response to the country’s 16,000 new infections in 24 hours.
Critics insist the infection rate is higher because more people without symptoms are being tested.
Marseille Mayor Michèle Rubirola, a doctor, told local media the decision from Paris left her “astonished and angry.” She said local officials were not consulted and the situation on the ground does not justify the action. She told news network France 24 two weeks ago that the numbers in her city have been improving.
“I won’t allow the people of Marseille to become the victims of political decisions that no one understands,” she said, according to the Daily Mail.
“It is hard to understand: how will it prevent the spread of the virus? How will the fact that we can no longer exercise help us, while sport is an important part of keeping us healthy with strong immune systems?” she asked.
Bernard Marty, a member of a union that represents the hotel industry, warned of insurrection and told local news stations that many restaurant owners promised not to adhere to any new shutdown guidelines.
France is working on how to best to respond to the virus that some officials say could be evolving.
Didier Raoult, a microbiologist who heads IHU Méditerranée Infection in Marseilles, said last week that health experts have discovered the coronavirus is mutating.
“They are less severe, so something is happening with this virus, which makes it different,” Raoult said. “The mutations we have are a rather degraded version of the initial form. At least that is our impression.”
TRENDPOST: As we have noted, with the coronavirus death rates peaking in April, to keep the fear and hysteria going, day after day, country after country, politicians and Presstitutes have been hyping the increase in cases.
According the CDC, the odds of catching the virus and dying from it are minimal. And, as per CDC reports, 94 percent of the virus victims had an average of 2.6 comorbidities. Even with that high percentage, the survival rates are extremely high.
CDC survival rates:
Age Group Probability of Survival
0-19 99.997 percent
20-49 99.98 percent
50-69 99.5 percent
70+ 94.6 percent
Yet, across the land and around the world, these facts are ignored by the media while governments plaster the landscape with “Wear Masks,” “Socially Distance,” and “No Social Gatherings.”
Even the business media, never letting a good crisis go to waste, is playing up the “case” game to get more gamblers to by their hype. This is yesterday’s Barron’s headline: “Cases Are Surging in Europe. These 22 Stocks Could Withstand a Second Wave.”
Again, what is absent in their so-called reporting is the inaccuracy of the tests, as we report in this and previous issues of the Trends Journal. (See our 9 September article, “BUY THE COVID HYPE, AVOID THE FACTS.”)
Yesterday, the “Cartoon News Network” (CNN) ran this scary headline: “New York City’s spike in cases shows coronavirus is still ‘a force to be reckoned with,’ governor says.”
At the end of their 455-word article, they went on to say, “New York City had reported 237,971 of the state’s 455,626 cases. But with a seven-day average of 224 new daily cases last week, the city is still nowhere near its April peak, when more than 5,000 new cases were reported every day.”
Yes, “nowhere near its April peak” and no mention of the death rate from the virus in New York State, which, according to Worldometer, was zero Sunday and yesterday.