Addressing the nation on March 12, it sounded rather like Emmanuel Macron wanted to assert his loyalty to the French welfare state. Even after a months-long fight over pensions, the president insisted that, in a time of crisis, the state would provide for all. Yet since then, the government response has been distinctly underwhelming. While authorities have ordered citizens to stay at home, even many nonessential workers are still having to head into work. And there are growing signs that austerity-hit hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of patients.

Earlier this week, a study for online magazine Mediapart showed the systematic flaws in the government’s public-health response — from the lack of resources to the misinformation it has used to cover its tracks. In particular, Macron’s administration has failed to procure anything like the required numbers of FFP2 and FFP3 protective masks. Rather than openly acknowledge the shortfall, health minister Olivier Véran has muddied the waters — swinging erratically between denying the need for such protection and insisting that the government has, in fact, built up sufficient stocks.

For Danièle Obono, an MP for La France Insoumise, such a response is unsurprising, given the government’s record of undermining the French social model. She argues that the response has been determined not by what the pandemic actually demands, but rather by what resources and personnel numbers are still left after years of neoliberal reforms. Obono spoke to Jacobin’s David Broder about the government’s failure to roll out mass testing, its reliance on “law-and-order” rhetoric, and the lack of support for workers’ incomes.