” But what is the Pr Delfraissy ? “In the corridors of power, it is little to say that the statements in the JDD of the president of the science council, installed by Emmanuel Macron, for the support during the crisis, have been received with caution. “Let people live “, argues professor in the columns of the weekly Sunday, calling for a reduction of the health protocol, including the after school hours, who had ruled in April in favour of the closure of childcare institutions up until the month of September. “This is a political decision,” he sharply commented after the announcement of a déconfinement schools on may 11. Before we review his copy ? “For weeks, the scientific Council has called the most extreme caution, and now people start bitching about the terms of the déconfinement, the economic disaster appears, he returns his jacket and let go of the government !” is unworthy of a ministerial adviser, relaying an opinion shared by several columnists. “In the clear, he explains to us that we went too far in following his advice, and it protects ! “

also Read : Coronavirus : this scientific board, which governs France

But is this really the case ? In this crisis moving, the reality is probably more complex. “It must not be forgotten what was the state of scientific knowledge at the time the déconfinement has been decided “, argues a member of the High Council for public health, whose opinions remain much more followed by the government and those of the scientific Council, a ” proceeding ecumenical created in the urgency to integrate all of the opinions – those of anthropologists, sociologists, general practitioners, etc. – and not run the risk of committing an error. “In April, therefore, the epidemic was still very active, and” we still thought that the children, as in other cases of coronavirus, were potentially important drivers. “Or the knowledge, these last few weeks, has made a giant step : a study by pediatricians from france shows that they are on the contrary very few transmitters of the Covid-19, confirming a first study carried out in April in the Haute-Savoie. For Robert Cohen, paediatrician and infectiologist at the hospital, Créteil, which has led to these works, it is, indeed, a ” disease of adults “. Moreover, the deleterious effects of confinement on the public school (rising inequality, stall…) are beginning to be better known…

Towards the end of the 4 square metres per student ?

“Jean-François Delfraissy is scientific : it integrates this knowledge and adapts his discourse” : while only 22% of students have, since the 11 may, actually returned to school, the relevance of the strict health protocol implemented at the time of the déconfinement no longer seems relevant. According to the information of the Point, a new notice has been sent on Monday to the Directorate general of health : it calls for giving up the famous ” four square meters per student “, which has forced the teachers to move cabinets and to drastically reduce the number of students that can be accommodated in each class, in favor of an approach similar to that used for cafes or restaurants. “In the same way that groups of adults can sit at the same table, we can form groups of students from the same class,” says a well-informed source. Which would, by the end of the month of June, to accommodate a much larger number of students… And to meet a political requirement, which by definition do not fall within the scope of the scientific Council : allow the parents to resume the real work, without being hampered by the intractable problems of child care.

Macron caught in his own trap

The option, on the table of the government, must still be the subject of trade-offs, and no one ventured to comment on it. “The situation has improved and continues to improve, (but) it is too early to relax in any way our vigilance,” said the minister of Health Olivier Véran during a trip in a testing centre of Argenteuil. In the entourage of the minister, however, no one considers that the Pr Delfraissy has exceeded its mandate : “It is expressed in scientific according to the scientific data… The policy, itself, must take into account broader-ranging data. “Social, economic, societal… It is the heart of the problem : by installing, in the month of march, the scientific board, and hiding behind his opinion for decisions that do not involve means – such as the maintenance of the first round of the municipal elections,” Emmanuel Macron has taken in his own trap, ” said the ex-president of the national Assembly, also a doctor, Bernard Accoyer. “It appears like the toy of the scientists… And the very character of Mr Delfraissy maintains this suspicion : François Hollande was named president of the national Council of ethics in 2016 only because he knew that it would render a favourable opinion on the LDCS. “

But the doctors, says the chief doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital Gilbert Deray, have rather been ” instrumentalized by politicians, who never divested of their power in this crisis.” Thus, while it appears as early as the month of march that nine victims of the Covid-19-in-ten over 65 years of age, Emmanuel Macron refuses to follow the advice of the scientific Council, which advocates for a déconfinement differential of the population. “17 to 18 million people [the elderly and / or suffering from polypathologies, editor’s NOTE] will remain at risk. There must, therefore, surely, in the absence of preventative treatment, continue with a containment relatively strict in these people, ” says the Pr Delfraissy before the Senate on April 15. The president hesitates first, before backing up : the pressure exerted by its loved ones from these generations are so-called “vulnerable” (such as Daniel Cohn-Bendit) and the fear of hurting the heart of his electorate, restated if necessary before the ” scientific reason “.

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what is so today, the Pr Delfraissy, who also declares to want to stop the mission of the council in July, as the crisis will not be over ? Asked by The Point, he did not want to respond to us. But one of his close friends ahead of this idea : “The council, because he was appointed by Macron, is perceived as an entity in the boot of the power. At the time when the epidemic is declining and that a respite is on the horizon, it is time to depoliticize these issues, by appointing another instance, more neutral, democratic, which may account for its opinion before the Assembly and the Senate. “An instance responsible for informing the management of the crisis, as much as to prepare those to come… the ministry of Health, it is conceded to have explored the idea :” such An instance, in the future, will be indispensable. “Jean-François Delfraissy, by making his word the unexpected, has only accelerated, perhaps, the calendar.