the obligatory mask is making a comeback in many cities

Many departments or cities, such as in the Paris region or in Lyon, announced the return of the compulsory mask in the street from Friday to try to curb the Omicron variant, which explodes the Covid-19 contaminations.

The Paris police headquarters announced the return of the mask on Wednesday evening less than 48 hours later in the capital.

The mask must be worn by people over the age of 11, “with the exception of people circulating inside vehicles, cyclists and users of two-wheelers” or “people practicing a sporting activity” in streets and places open to the public, except Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes, she said in a press release.

The other prefectures of Ile-de-France have followed suit by announcing similar measures, the contours of which however diverge according to the departments.

The mask is again imposed in all the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, in all the municipalities of Val-d’Oise (perimeter between the panels entry and exit from the town) and Seine-et-Marne, in the towns of Essonne and in the center of the towns of Yvelines.

“It is necessary anyway there is no choice. To avoid contamination with Omicron all that, (…) it is a necessary evil”, estimates Mohamed Ben Jemaa, 68, retired interviewed Thursday by AFP in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis).

“I do not understand why we have to be forced to wear the mask, we are already doing the tests, we have a third dose,” said Selphine Che, a 29-year-old beautician whose vaccinated mother has just caught the virus.

This air of déjà-vu is also spreading in other cities, with varying perimeters and durations according to prefectural decrees.

In Lyon or Villeurbanne, the mask is back as of this midnight Thursday for a period of three weeks, “except between 2:00 am and 6:00 am,” said the Rhône prefecture in a press release.

The prefecture of Côte d’Or has decreed for one month the wearing of the mask compulsory from 11 years old in Dijon and in the most important municipalities of the department.

In the west of France, the mask will also be de rigueur in public spaces: in Loire-Atlantique it will be compulsory outdoors, with the exception of beaches and certain natural spaces, such as in Seine-Maritime, in all urbanized areas.

All the communes of Vendée are concerned by the obligation, unlike the Côtes d’Armor, where it will be applied only in the town centers of communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

Some decrees concern the South-West. In Charente-Maritime, the obligation to wear a mask outside is extended to 72 municipalities from Thursday until January 19, and concerns both La Rochelle and Ilian municipalities such as Ars-en-Ré or Dolus -Oléron.

In Dordogne, “in Périgueux, Bergerac and Sarlat, and in agreement with the mayors concerned, the wearing of a mask will be compulsory again from December 31 in the city center, and for a period of one month possibly renewable depending on the evolution of the health situation “, indicated the prefecture.

In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, one of the regions with the highest incidence rate of the virus in metropolitan France, the mask is already a reality in the Var since December 11 and until January 7, on the whole public roads and places.

Offenders are liable to a fine of 135 euros.

France records a record of Covid-19 contamination due to the Omicron “tidal wave”, with 208,000 new cases on Wednesday, after around 180,000 during the previous twenty-four hours.

bur-vid-fan-aco / pga / dch

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