First the Paris town hall shut the city’s gyms, on national orders. Next it locked the parks and closed riverside paths. Then it banned running during the day, between 10am and 7pm. This latest ruling was designed to separate joggers from daytime shoppers queuing for essentials on the city’s narrow pavements. But the result has been an evening rush hour, as joggers emerge from confinement all at the same time.
Paris has imposed some of Europe’s tightest rules on outdoor exercise. In Amsterdam or Berlin joggers can run when they like, so long as they respect social distancing. In most regions Italians can go jogging, even if just in a tight circle around their homes. Only Spain has enforced truly drastic rules, having banned all outdoor exercise.
A poll suggests that in normal times only 10% of the French go running regularly. A mere 6m people belong to a gym in France, well below the 11m in Germany or 10m in Britain.
For now, daytime jogging is banned in Paris, but people can still walk—even if only for an hour, around their homes—at any time of the day.
From The Economist (edited)
