Five years ago, France was faced with Covid and lockdown. On the occasion of this "anniversary", Emmanuel Macron posted a message on X.
The head of state, whose decisions have not necessarily left a very good memory among the French, nevertheless wanted to declare:
“Five years ago, our country was about to face one of the most difficult challenges in its recent history: Covid-19.
France went into lockdown. But it never stopped. Faced with the unknown, faced with adversity, it united.
The French people have faced up to this crisis with courage. We have taken care of each other. We have shown solidarity in the most difficult times, resilience when everything seemed to be faltering.
Every evening at 20 p.m., when the silence of the streets seemed to freeze the country, millions of hands echoed with hope. At the windows, the French clapped and banged on pots to say "thank you," a collective heartbeat in tribute to those who cared for and protected us.
Our healthcare workers worked tirelessly. On the front lines, exemplary and heroic, they saved countless lives.
Alongside them, teachers continued to pass on knowledge. Farmers, transporters, and cashiers fed the nation. While millions of French people were forced to stop their work, garbage collectors, maintenance workers, and postal workers, our law enforcement, firefighters, and military personnel provided the essentials. Researchers tirelessly worked to understand and fight. All of them kept the country standing.
Just as those who committed to making masks and, when the time came, to vaccinating, vaccinating, vaccinating, kept the country going.
Five years later, I think with emotion of the daily death toll and of all those families who have lost a loved one. Of the families who still today feel they were unable to say a dignified goodbye.
I think of the human tragedies, the silent pain, and the unspoken heartbreak. I think of our youth, who often suffered from loneliness and agreed to sacrifice some of the most beautiful months to protect the most vulnerable.
Covid-19 has turned our lives upside down.
But it also revealed the strength of our unity, which must never cease to inspire and guide us.
Together five years ago.
Together today.
Together for tomorrow.”
