Confinement, Day 5

in town for shopping
then cabbage delivery
rest of day inside

Our food stock was getting low so I had to go to the supermarket. I had asked friends of ours who live in the village if they needed anything, and they asked that I bring back a cabbage.

I wouldn't say that the supermarket's aisles were eerily quiet or anything like that, but they certainly were not as busy as they must be on a usual Saturday afternoon (I never go shopping on Saturday afternoons). The cashier confirmed that. I noticed, and was glad, that the tills were protected by a long perspex shield, with only the space necessary to slide the goods under. Aisles well stocked except for a few unimportant items (business as usual) and, which doesn't cease to baffle me... toilet paper...

The news is still not getting better, but we knew it wouldn't. The effects of a perfectly respected confinement can only be felt after about two weeks, and it's far from being perfectly respected. The police wrote more than 4,000 tickets and gave as many fines (135€) to people who had no business being out, or who didn't carry the necessary form to justify their presence outside. In Mulhouse (in Alsace, the region that has been hit first and is still by far the most impacted) the army is setting up a field hospital: thirty itensive care units will thus be added to the hospital beds. They'll be operational on Monday, complete with staff of course (doctors, nurses, orderlies). Everywhere in France, nurses are taking crash courses in intensive care nursing.

The masks controversy is raging. The government say they are being delivered, but everywhere people in the health systems say they have none. They're calling for firms and individuals who would have some stocked to please gift them. A lot of people and firms had ordered some during the H1N1 crisis (back in 2009/2010), and most were not used.