France Lockdown

[jacquigem]

We have the old card Spanish residency card but have been unable to swap to the new plastic Tie card as no appointments available. Have been told our current cards are acceptable and past a recent police inspection. Haven't tried to travel outside Valencia though

 

[witzend]

French Visa from the Complete France Magazine

How to get a long-stay visa to stay in France for more than three months at a time

Frustrated that you can no longer stay at your French holiday home as long as you’d like following Brexit? Here’s our guide to French long-stay tourist visas

www.completefrance.com

 

[John H]

French Visa from the Complete France Magazine

How to get a long-stay visa to stay in France for more than three months at a time

Frustrated that you can no longer stay at your French holiday home as long as you’d like following Brexit? Here’s our guide to French long-stay tourist visas

www.completefrance.com

That might work for people with property in France but I cannot see that it will be any good for those of us who tour in our motorhomes. Apart from the need to have an address in France, the killer for me is the need to show private medical insurance for your stay and if that is longer than 3 months, private medical insurance for people of our age and pre-existing conditions is prohibitively expensive. For me, the logical way round the 90 day limit is to throw in a couple of months in Morocco in the middle. We could then continue to use the successor to EHIC while in Spain and only take out private insurrance while in Morocco. I don't think we'll be doing that next winter, though, because I don't think Covid will be out of the equation by then.

 

[witzend]

France starts 3rd national Lockdown All schools and non-essential shops will shut for four weeks, and a curfew will be in place from 19:00 to 06:00.

Covid-19: France enters third national lockdown amid ICU surge

The measures come as Europe battles a third wave of the pandemic and delays in its vaccine rollout.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Yup, the world is going to be bumping along a rocky road for a long while yet.

 

[alcam]

France starts 3rd national Lockdown All schools and non-essential shops will shut for four weeks, and a curfew will be in place from 19:00 to 06:00.

Covid-19: France enters third national lockdown amid ICU surge

The measures come as Europe battles a third wave of the pandemic and delays in its vaccine rollout.

www.bbc.co.uk

To be fair lots of France [especially rural] is shut well before then at normal times

 

[Snapster]

I think , if you read the article, they mostly had residency in Spain but not the new TIE cards which are really slow at being rolled out. Portugal have instigated a system where a number is allocated as soon as the residence is accepted and border guards take this as proof. All residence certificates were initially issued with "European Citizen" and now have to be exchanged to show residence but not EU. Many were turned back in Spain before as they hadn't got the new documents and there was confusion about what documents are acceptable. Reducing it to an individual airport guards decision does seem a bit haphazard! And for someone with very sick parent, and having residency seems harsh and unjustifiable....if the media report is accurate.

I’m not sure I understand why, if they were claiming residency in Spain and having to collect their residency cards, were they not actually residing in Spain at the time?
Anyway, our 3rd lockdown in France has started and we have seen lots of Gendarmes about stopping people, presumably to check they are not outside their 10 km travel limit. Vaccinations are still slow, although I have had to cancel one ( due on 2nd April) as the local pharmacy is still refusing to give the AstraZeneca jab. I made another appointment on 9th for the Pfizer jab at a local vaccination centre, but still, the rollout seems a bit haphazard.
The health system here really is excellent but they don’t seem to have much of a clue with the vaccine rollout!

 

[REC]

I’m not sure I understand why, if they were claiming residency in Spain and having to collect their residency cards, were they not actually residing in Spain at the time?

If same as Portugal, The application to change is done online and the rollout is incredibly slow with up to a year wait to get the actual document. Again, Portugal, we have to go for a face to face interview to get the biometric stuff done and covid has halted/ slowed this process. However Portugal have been very clear about being able to use the official application acceptance number in the meantime. Spainush officials seem more confused!

 

[mariesnowgoose]

I’m not sure I understand why, if they were claiming residency in Spain and having to collect their residency cards, were they not actually residing in Spain at the time?

If same as Portugal, The application to change is done online and the rollout is incredibly slow with up to a year wait to get the actual document. Again, Portugal, we have to go for a face to face interview to get the biometric stuff done and covid has halted/ slowed this process. However Portugal have been very clear about being able to use the official application acceptance number in the meantime. Spainush officials seem more confused!

So, another reason why Portugal has always seemed preferable as a place to visit/reside than neighbouring Spain!

I really warmed to Portugal over 20 years ago when I discovered they had banned the erection of new buildings of more than 2 (or was it 3?) stories high along their Mediterranean coastal hotspots.

Unlike the Spanish Costas - huge concrete towers and sprawling holiday developments that spread out along their coastline like an ugly fungus.

 

[REC]

So, another reason why Portugal has always seemed preferable as a place to visit/reside than neighbouring Spain!

I really warmed to Portugal over 20 years ago when I discovered they had banned the erection of new buildings of more than 2 (or was it 3?) stories high along their Mediterranean coastal hotspots.

Unlike the Spanish Costas - huge concrete towers and sprawling holiday developments that spread out along their coastline like an ugly fungus.

Think Spain is implementing more restrictions now, and many of the previous builds have been declared illegal! But changing things already built is not an easy way to go. We just found everyone in our area so friendly, and helpful. The Portuguese officialdom can be a bit onerous at times though, luckily our neighbour speaks great English ( always practising on us!) And seems to know someone in every local government/ utility/ business for miles around..

 

[witzend]

I really warmed to Portugal over 20 years ago when I discovered they had banned the erection of new buildings of more than 2 (or was it 3?) stories high along their Mediterranean coastal hotspots.

Portugal has no coast on the Med all Atlantic

 

[mariesnowgoose]

Portugal has no coast on the Med all Atlantic

Doh! Fair point.

What I meant was the coastal hotspots, whichever sea they sit next to

 

[Val54]

Doh! Fair point.

What I meant was the coastal hotspots, whichever sea they sit next to

For a moment there I thought Wintonian was back ..........

 

[HurricaneSmith]

Latest vaccine news from France
20210409-french-under-55s-given-astrazeneca-shot-to-get-different-vaccine-for-second-dose

Hmmm, based on what science I wonder.

Van-Tam has said "It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer. Unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just won’t know."

I trust his thinking and wish France well.

 

[tidewatcher]

I believe it was trialed and used in a sars outbreak which has very similar causes and cures to C19. No doubt it would be possible to model the results fairly accurately from the data amassed from vaccine usage so far.

 

[n brown]

 

[Snapster]

have you noticed, that a while ago, France would not administer AZ as not enough proof that it was safe
How things have changed!
Where is the proof that using a different second dose of the vaccine works and is safe?

Although the AZ is now approved again in France for over 55’s, none of our local pharmacies are going to use it. Most pharmacies don’t have the super freezers needed to store the Pfizer vaccine so may wait for the Johnson Modena and Sputnik vaccines to become available. However, Johnson and Johnson vaccines are also thought to cause blood clotting so they could well be withdrawn soon.
I had my first vaccine on Friday ( Pfizer) at our local vaccination centre. 2nd jab is booked for 7th May.
Also, those under 55’s that had the first AZ vaccine will be given Pfizer or Modena vaccine as their 2nd jab.

 

[Derekoak]

The risk of bloodclots from AZ vaccine only lasts a few days and is very rare. Covid can cause bloodclots with a much higher risk if you catch it. Also death and debility in many other ways including long covid. After a few days unvaccinated you run another risk of catching covid . And repeat that risk every few days. Getting vaccinated with an effective vaccine is top priority. All this fretting is just slowing things down for no gain to the greater good.

 

[RichardHelen262]

The risk of bloodclots from AZ vaccine only lasts a few days and is very rare. Covid can cause bloodclots with a much higher risk if you catch it. Also death and debility in many other ways including long covid. After a few days unvaccinated you run another risk of catching covid . And repeat that risk every few days. Getting vaccinated with an effective vaccine is top priority. All this fretting is just slowing things down for no gain to the greater good.

Exactly,
Whilst they are slowing things down there’s going to be far more deaths through covid than with people getting blood clots.plus their economy continues to suffer for longer

 

[REC]

Heard a lady who lost her brother to one of these rare clots, urging people to still have the vaccine...as risks without are so much higher. That must have been very hard.