” VSThis year, no party: we wait until midnight and we go to bed. “Faced with a fifth wave that is growing – more than 200,000 new cases this Wednesday, December 29 – Maxime * preferred to play the security card and reserve his New Year’s Eve for a romantic dinner, at the House. This 26-year-old Parisian could not imagine meeting dozens of friends for the evening. “There is no lack of desire, but the year 2021 has already been complicated enough, I would like to avoid attacking 2022 in isolation. “
Last year, the New Year had already been disrupted by the pandemic. Bars and restaurants closed, curfew, threat of the English variant, more contagious … For the transition to 2022, the Covid-19 offers us a remake, with, this time in the cast, the Omicron variant, even more contagious. With one difference this year: despite the explosion in the number of cases, the government has declared no curfew or closed bars and restaurants. The festivities involving large gatherings have barely been restricted. It is up to the French, now largely vaccinated, to decide the risk they are ready to take… and to make others take.
Covid-19: the number of cases explodes among young people in France
Fed up
This Friday evening, Ilona will go to a party with friends in Angers. “We will be seven, it’s not huge, relativizes the 22-year-old student. It’s been two years that I restrict myself and that I hardly see my friends who are not in Paris like me. “Contact case of the carpooling driver who took her to her family at Christmas – then tested negative – she nonetheless” became aware of all those that could be contaminated when one imagines oneself potentially ill “. This evening, she will do it without fear, “but all the same with a touch of guilt”.
“It’s been so long that this virus has been there, we are a little fed up,” abounds Marine *, a 23-year-old student, who is also planning an evening with twenty friends of her boyfriend. She never considered canceling. “It’s a bit selfish, I admit, but we have studies so compelling that it’s one of the only times of the year when we can let go. Having known an infected person the week before Christmas, she is waiting for the result of a second negative test before confirming her presence. “Having the Covid is the only thing that could make me cancel. “
Overpriced evening
Anne-Laure, she did not wait for the virus to knock on her door. For this 29-year-old dietician, no champagne, party favors and moments with friends, the New Year will be without her. His friends had planned an evening with a dozen guests. “But that means as many risks of contamination, with people who do not necessarily pay attention to barrier gestures every day. Meet up in case of contact for an overpriced evening, no, thank you! “
On the borders of Brittany, Pascale * and her friends also canceled the dance party planned at the village pub… forced and forced by the government, which banned dancing in bars and restaurants. There was no question of canceling the entire week of vacation planned with friends. “We are all vaccinated with three doses, justifies the 56-year-old executive, and then, once we are between us, we do not meet anyone in the village …” New Year’s Eve, it will be “at home, with a little one. meals and some music ”.
“Last year, we already braved the curfew to get together, I don’t see why this time, when we are all vaccinated, we would deprive ourselves”, agrees Theodore *, 29 years old, who finds his friends. from high school for an evening at ten. He is “not afraid” of the virus, but he is “still careful in the days leading up to not bring it back”. Theodore never considered canceling. “Our lives are not easy these days, so if we deprive ourselves of these good times …” Friday at midnight, everyone will wish each other, as usual, a Happy New Year. Hopefully, this time it is.
* The first names have been changed.
