In the calendar for the easing of health restrictions, the date of Wednesday February 16 was checked by the discotheque bosses. They will be able to reopen their establishments after more than two months of closure – a year and a half, in all, over two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sign of a marked improvement in the health situation, while the government plans to lift the vaccination pass – the terms of which changed on Tuesday – for the end of March or the beginning of April. As announced on January 20 by Prime Minister Jean Castex, the government is reducing the pressure on leisure activities. Overview of the changes.
- Nightclubs reopen
Some, in a hurry to find their regulars, have decided to open at midnight. Closed since December 10, the nightclubs have the authorization to reconnect the speakers and the spots, without a gauge and “in compliance with the health protocol”, specifies the government. Wearing a mask is not compulsory inside establishments, but remains recommended for customers and staff. Access to nightclubs is “conditioned on the presentation by customers of a valid vaccination pass”, according to the text posted online Tuesday by the Ministry of the Economy.
Customers can place their order “at the counter or at the table”. Standing consumption is authorized, the cloakroom is open and contactless payment methods must be preferred, specifies the protocol.
- Coffee at the counter and standing concerts
As with nightclub customers, standing coffee regulars will be delighted: consumption at the counter, in cafes and bars, is again authorized. It had been banned since January 3 because of the Omicron wave. This was also the case for standing concerts, again authorized.
- Return of catering on trains
After a six-week hiatus, the SNCF confirms the resumption of catering on board TGVs and Intercités. The railway company notes, however, that “the health crisis is still relevant” and that it will remain “extremely vigilant about the barrier gestures to be respected in order to take advantage of the catering on board in the best conditions”. Wearing a mask remains compulsory on board trains. It can only be removed temporarily to restore itself.
Similarly, moviegoers can again eat popcorn in the cinema and sports fans a sandwich at the stadium. These consumption restrictions have also been lifted since Wednesday.
You still have to be a little patient. Last week, the Ministry of Health announced that wearing a mask will no longer be compulsory, from February 28, in closed places subject to the vaccination pass. These are therefore, in particular, establishments dedicated to leisure, sporting and cultural activities, restaurants, drinking establishments or fairs. In transport, the mask will remain compulsory. But the question will be “discussed” at the next Health Defense Council, said Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the Minister Delegate for Transport.
At school, from the start of the school year, children will no longer have to wear the mask in the playground. On Sunday, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of Education, considered that it is “eminently desirable that the mask can be removed from children” indoors “as soon as possible”. He would like this to be done before “the end of the school year”, without specifying a timetable.
Finally, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, envisages the end of the wearing of the mask indoors for adults and children “in mid-March”, as well as a reduction in the vaccination pass on this date, “perhaps not all in all, perhaps we will keep measures for the end of March at the beginning of April”, if the circulation of the virus is “very weak”.