Half of French village under weekend lockdown, half is not
Thièvres lies between two departments and only one is subject to confinement. Locals say they take care as to what side of the road they walk on
The residents of one village in the Hauts-de-France region will have to take extra care at the weekend as one part of the village is under weekend lockdown for the next three weeks and the other part is not.
Thièvres is administratively two villages with the same name: one in the department of Pas-de-Calais and the other in the Somme.
There are 120 inhabitants living on the Pas-de-Calais side and 63 on the Somme side.
The villages have different mairies and postcodes but share a church and a graveyard. They are separated by one street, Grand Rue, but residents there do not consider the villages to be separate.
Carine Jouy, the mayor of the Somme Thièvres, told La Voix du Nord, “When someone asks them where they live, they say Thièvres, not Thièvres Somme”.
A weekend lockdown is in place throughout the Pas-de-Calais department and is set to last until March 28.
The measure was introduced on March 4 to curb the spread of Covid-19.
It is also now mandatory to wear a mask outside at all times in the department. A rule that is not in place in the Somme.
This means that on Saturdays and Sundays, crossing the Grand Rue from Thièvres Somme to Thièvres Pas-de-Calais will be illegal without an essential reason.
“We take care to walk on the right pavement and the right side of the road,” residents Amémie and Lucie told La Voix du Nord.
The Somme is on a list of 23 departments that are being closely monitored with a view to introducing extra measures, such as a weekend lockdown, if necessary.
Read more about the Covid-19 situation in France
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