Footage of Parisians crowded onto a Paris Metro train with no ability to implement social distancing rules left many French netizens fuming as the country began its ‘gradual’ reopening and easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Passengers were packed like sardines onto a train running on Paris’ busy Line 13 on Monday morning, video from news channel BFM showed, as many people finally returned to work and the government urged public caution to avoid a second spike in virus cases after eight weeks of confinement.
Social distancing seemed a thing of the past, however, as the metro was far too cramped to allow for much distance between commuters, leading many online observers to vent their frustrations.
“Social distancing on Line 13 be like non-existent,” said one Twitter user.
Few people were shocked by the situation, though, having expected chaotic scenes to unfold once the Metro opened its gates again.
“What a surprise… who could have foreseen that?” one person asked sarcastically.
“I don’t really see how social distancing was possible in the Paris metro!” mused another.
One angry Parisian invited President Emmanuel Macron, along with members of his cabinet, to “come this morning” onto Line 13 and “share with us what we experience there.”
The situation on the already notoriously overcrowded line was made worse by the fact that the first train of the day was reportedly 40 minutes late, no doubt adding to the transit horror.
“What shocks me, and which can have terrible health consequences, is that the FIRST subway of the day is 40 minutes late!” one person wrote. “Unbearable carelessness,” said another.
One silver lining is that most people in the footage were wearing masks (now mandatory on France’s public transport) to protect themselves and others. Some speculated, however, that many people will be recycling their masks too much because they “don’t have another one.”
France’s partial easing of its lockdown comes as more than 26,000 have died of the novel coronavirus, with more than 177,000 confirmed cases reported, making it one of the worst-affected countries in Europe.
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