COVID MASK. More and more people seem to have taken their masks out of the closet, especially on public transport. But what do the current health measures say? Is the Covid mask mandatory or just recommended?
[Mis à jour le 8 juillet 2022 à 15h43] Two and a half years after the appearance of the first cases of Covid-19 which will have led to unprecedented confinements and the establishment of curfews at times, the health rules in force have evolved several times and while the seventh wave is now in full swing, the masks are blooming again on the faces of passers-by, especially in train stations, airports and other public transport. However, at the national level, wearing a mask has not again become compulsory in these places. On the other hand, the government has reinforced its communication on the Covid-19 lately and now calls on the French to put the mask back on themselves when they are in crowded, poorly ventilated places, transport and shops at the top of the list. .
But if the government is playing, at this stage, the incentive card more than that of the obligation, at the local level, some have preferred to take the lead and have already started to reimpose the wearing of the mask. This is particularly the case in Nice. The mayor, Christian Estrosi, thus announced, on Tuesday July 5, that the mask should again be worn in public transport in the agglomeration. Other cities that are part of the Nice-Côte d’Azur metropolis are also affected. In general, in this situation, what measures can be expected? Will the mask be present in the Covid bill that the government is about to introduce? We take stock.
It was no longer mandatory in transport, shops and businesses… Until now. This is Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nicewhich took the plunge on Tuesday July 5 by announcing on RTL the return of mandatory mask in transport in its agglomeration, but also in several other cities of the Nice-Côte-d’Azur metropolis (including Cagnes-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent-du-Var) from Monday 11 July.
If some consider this measure disproportionate, the mayor of Nice wanted to warn the French about what awaits them: “The government recommends it but it will be obliged to come there”, justified the first city councilor. But on July 6, the day after her announcement, Elisabeth Borne, Prime Minister, affirmed that there would be no return to the obligation to wear a mask, making simple recommendations. The public authorities are therefore relying more on a logic of inciting the citizen reflex… To the chagrin of certain scientists who insist that the lifting of this ban on May 16 was a mistake.
One speech in particular was relayed: that of the emergency physician Patrick Pelloux, president of the Association of Emergency Physicians of France, who protested recent health measures at the microphone ofEuropean 1 Wednesday July 6 in the morning. From his point of view, faced with the epidemic figures which are racing, it would be wiser to put the mask back on transport and the “hydroalcoholic gel everywhere” so as not to end up with a “new variant” at the start of the school year. , which would force the government to reimpose confinement, “because we can no longer stop economic or cultural life”. Assuring that “the virus circulates so much that if you take the metro over several stations, you are almost sure to have come across someone who is contaminated”, he said he was certain that the mask would eventually “become a civilizational habit”. .
However, part of the scientific community oscillates between recommendation and obligation. We think in particular of the speeches of Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Scientific Council, an organization which does not campaign to reimpose protection. “It seems logical, for fragile people, in crowded places, to postpone the mask. Yes, I recommend it”, he had simply declared the doctor on RTL, on June 30, refusing to speak of obligation. In the same way, the president of the Vaccine Strategy Orientation Council Alain Fischer spoke of the mask as an “act of good citizenship” in public transport, in certain places of work or socialization “(comments made at the microphone of France Inter June 30).
The recommendations of scientists and authorities, put in place since the spring, could turn into a generalized obligation on the territory. Some are worried in any case about the presentation, on July 11, of a Covid “health watch and security” bill by the government to the Assembly. This text, which will be examined in mid-July, will aim to avoid any resurgence of the epidemic, as reported TFI Info. If this law should not contain an extension of the exceptional state health emergency measure voted in November 2021, the text of the bill provides for the maintenance of the tools allowing the surveillance of the epidemic, as well as the monitoring and support for people positive for Covid-19. In addition, this law will authorize the establishment of a health control at the borders when the situation requires it, with proof of vaccination potentially required to enter the national territory. If the return of the compulsory mask is not there (still according to TF1), the rising hospitalization rate (in particular the figure of new admissions to critical care services) could force the authorities to plead for its application.
For the moment, health establishments, hospitals and nursing homes are the only places that remain subject to the obligation to wear a mask. Thus, the obligation to wear a mask now only concerns caregivers, patients and visitors to health and care facilities such as hospitals, pharmacies or medical biology laboratories.
Wearing a mask is therefore “recommended” in transport, without obligation, just as in “enclosed places where we are in direct promiscuity”, according to the Minister of Health…. As such, transport and centers commercial places appear in the list of “enclosed places and large gatherings” where the mask is recommended for “frail people, because of their age or their pathologies” (as indicated by the government website). With the exception therefore of the Nice-Côte-d’Azur metropolis, where the inhabitants will return to the mask in transport next Monday. The government recalls for its part that “the mask remains an effective tool to prevent the transmission of Covid-19”, in the same way as “other barrier gestures such as regular ventilation of closed places or frequent hand washing”. “It is necessary to keep these good reflexes to best protect the most fragile”, concludes the press release. These recommendations are also a call for caution in this context of an epidemic outbreak just before the summer period.