Some will say that they never left it anyway. According to a YouGov poll for the HuffPost published this week, 68% of French people would continue to wear a mask at work despite the reduction in the health protocol. Three-quarters of those surveyed also claim to keep it carefully around the nose and mouth in shops, even though this protection is no longer mandatory. Good for them, since the indoor mask may not have said its last word in France.
Why ? France is experiencing a significant rebound in its contaminations, with more than 100,000 daily cases recorded on average, an increase of 40% over one week. For the day of Thursday, the number of new ones is even close to 150,000. The “incidence rate is on the rise in all age groups, especially among the oldest”, and the “very high positivity rate and in increase”, indicates Public Health France in its latest weekly newsletter released Thursday. The BA.2 variant, now the majority (73% of contaminations), is the main suspect in this resurgence of Covid. And this bad dynamic could last. The effective R (number of people infected by a positive case) is currently at 1.29, a sign that the epidemic is progressing. It was still at 1.11 a week ago.
The public health agency thus calls for “maintenance of barrier gestures including the wearing of masks, in particular in closed spaces or in the presence of vulnerable people”. Thursday, Emmanuel Macron, without completely following in his footsteps, did not rule out a return to an obligation to wear a mask. “If things were to go downhill, and even during the election, the president that I am will do what it takes to protect proportionately,” the president-candidate said.
The question also arises in schools, not spared by this rebound. Some 3,184 classes were closed on March 17 (+ 500 over one week), despite a largely relaxed health protocol.
Objectives not met
The pressure is growing on the executive, who had chosen to abandon the wearing of the mask indoors as well as the vaccination pass on Monday March 14, 2022. A few days before the first round of the presidential election, Critics abound on this decision, considered much too hasty. Several European countries, including France, were notably singled out on Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO) for having lifted their measures against Covid-19 too “brutally”. The country has not met its targets set in February, insisting on the need to reach an incidence of around 300 to 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or even less than 1,500 patients in intensive care. Two levels that have not yet been reached. The former now seems out of reach for quite some time.
On wearing a mask indoors, more specifically, France is (almost) going it alone in Europe. Italy, at least until April 30, Spain and Portugal have retained it. Austria is preparing to reintroduce it after having abandoned it. Depending on the region, Germans are also required to remain masked.
Faced with the controversy, the Ministry of Health, on Twitterreacted by recalling that the indoor mask was always recommended for people in contact, symptomatic, as well as the most fragile, more likely to develop a serious form of Covid-19.
“We must not let our guard down on wearing a mask, or even wearing FFP2 because surgical masks only protect relatively well when everyone is wearing them”, also urged virologist Etienne Decroly to L’Express.
The debate could finally intensify in the days to come, in a context of an increase in flu cases. This epidemic started again later than in previous years. It is no less avoidable, provided, of course… to wear the mask again indoors.