Covid-19 France: Can we drive and shop together?

Can my wife and I go out together, in the same car, if we both complete our own confinement forms? A friend told us they were stopped and fined for having two people in the same car.

We can understand why there is confusion over this point as conflicting advice can be found on social media and other online forums.

This is what we have been told by the official Covid-19 helpline: people should only go out together in a car, to go shopping for example, if it is unavoidable.

This could be for example that you are taking the person to a medical visit (and they cannot get there on their own) or you are a single mother who has no option for childcare but to take her children with her when shopping.

Generally it is not a good enough reason to go together because one person is disabled (the able-bodied person could go on their own), however it might be if the disabled person cannot be left alone for a medical reason (eg. due to dementia).

People should not go out (shopping or otherwise) together just because they would like to and usually do.

The reason for this that all trips should be limited and two people out and about in shops, even from the same household, increases the chances of the virus being passed on (to someone else in the shop) – and indeed caught by them and then passed to each other.

The fewer people having contact with others the better the chance of containing the virus.

I take my dog out for walks several times a day – can I just print off one attestationform for the day?

No, you need to complete a separate form every time you go out and put the time on it. This is to oblige people to think about whether they really need to go out, and to make a deliberate decision each time, so as to keep trips out of the home to a minimum.

Can I go out for a walk with other people in my family?

Yes, you can go out for a short walk locally, for exercise, with people who live with you, for no more than one hour a day and not more than a kilometre from your home.

You should also stay away from other people you come across; that way there is little likelihood of anyone passing on the virus to someone they would not normally come into contact with.