Letter from Paris

By Gauthier Bencheïkh

These days, everything Covid-related you may hear about in the City of Lights revolves around disillusionment and resilience.

Indeed, disillusionment is currently numbing everyone’s mind, as Paris is being locked down a third time. Yes, a third time! Though rumours at the timing of writing have this lockdown only to be a softer version than the one which hit France a year ago, the idea of being stuck all over again at home is bitter to swallow for many. Let alone legitimate concerns over additional job losses in economic sectors that are being utterly struck by the crisis.

Yet, the Greater Paris Area (IDF) is the current epicentre of the pandemic in France. And the government seems not to be willing to bet on the improvement of our demeanour. One barely can argue that the inhabitants did all they could to avoid gathering in public parks and seeking for reminiscences of a past idealised Parisian way of life.

But resilience kicks in, as always in a city that takes pride in never backing down to oppression. Vaccination is accelerating in the country, and many Parisians’ hopes lie on it to recover what all of them miss so badly: cafes, theatres, museums, or even an improvised and informal drink on the docks. Of course, vaccination also triggers widely mixed responses among the Parisians, between diehard suspicion against vaccines, appeals to one fulfilling his/her civic duty and resignation to its necessity. The suspension of Astrazeneca’s vaccine on March 16th damaged an already poor reputation of vaccines in general and delayed further the overall process. Better days are yet to come, so we keep working and caring for our loved ones.