The government is increasing calls for the mask to be worn again in crowded places or in contact with vulnerable people, due to the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic.
After the Prime Minister’s “solemn appeal” to wear a mask in the presence of people at risk but also in closed places such as transport; it is the Minister of Health’s turn to give voice. “My arm will not tremble if we have to decide on the obligation of the mask” launched François Braun on December 4 on the continuous news channel BFM TV. The minister noted a “complicated situation for several days”. Indeed, the country is affected by a triple epidemic of Covid, flu but also bronchiolitis.
Fears of an explosion of cases also worry Covars – the body succeeding the Scientific Council. In an article in the JDD this Sunday, December 4, Brigitte Autran, president of the committee, stressed the need for the return of the mask against these epidemics. For the specialist, who recalled her advisory role, it is a “political decision”, but “we must move towards wearing a mask as much as possible in closed places, where there is significant promiscuity” did she judge in the columns of the JDD. December 1 RMC revealed, however, that the government had seized the health organization to assess the need – or not – for the compulsory wearing of a mask in certain closed places including transport. This committee, whose mission is to inform the decisions of the public authorities, must officially decide in the coming days, the media said. It is therefore likely that this opinion will go in the direction of a formal recommendation for the wearing of a mandatory mask in closed public places. It is also likely that this advice will be followed by the government.
The obligations left to the discretion of the prefects?
But you should know that a return of the mandatory mask in the coming weeks will not be easy to establish quickly for the executive. The law of July 30 put an end to the state of health emergency in France. This temporary device allowed the executive to put in place strict health measures such as a limitation of freedom of movement or the compulsory wearing of a mask in certain locations. In a press release dated August 4, 2022, it was specified that this type of health restriction could no longer be adopted without the passing of a new law. Not having an absolute majority, the vote for such measures – often contested by the opposition, seems delicate.
One of the solutions considered would be the restoration of the mandatory wearing of masks at the local level. Questioned on this subject by Ouest-France, Me Alibert, considered that “orders issued by prefects or mayors could be justified in a given territory and at certain times of the day, in particular in the event of bad epidemiological figures noted locally”.
The call for health specialists to wear the mask
For several weeks already, many health professionals and experts have been calling for a return to the mask in public transport in particular. Less than a month away from the end of year celebrations, the Omicron variant remains in the majority and continues to spread across the territory at high speed. According to data from Public Health France dated December 4, the number of contaminations increased by more than 6% in one week. 40,006 new cases have been confirmed by the health authority. The health agency deplored “an acceleration of the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 was clearly observed with incidence and positivity rates calculated from antigenic tests and all tests”. In the columns of Parisian, virologist Anne-Claude Crémieux recently lamented a collective “amnesia”, noting that the French have “forgotten that masks are effective, this can be seen in the metro in particular, where few people wear them”. However, according to a study by the Pasteur Institutethe risk of contamination is increased by 20% in the metro, 30% in the train and even 70% in the plane.
Three respiratory epidemics
This booster shot therefore comes as France faces the increase in cases of Covid, flu, but also bronchiolitis. Several experts had alerted to the applicability of barrier gestures in recent weeks. Regarding the flu, the signals are already red according to Public health France, with now two regions placed in the epidemic phase, namely Brittany and Normandy. The levels are also considered worrying in Centre-Val de Loire, Hauts-de-France, Île-de-France but also in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the Grand Est and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. As for the bronchiolitis epidemic, it started to rise again after a lull during the All Saints school holidays. L’National Health Agency which reported a “particularly marked intensity of the epidemic throughout the metropolitan territory and in Guadeloupe”.
Faced with these worrying indicators, infectious disease specialist Benjamin Davido asked about RMC Sunday November 27 the “return of a strong incentive to wear a mask indoors”. At the very beginning of November, the National Academy of Medicine had in a communicated alerted, considering the return of the necessary mask. The institution was alarmed by the contaminations which risked occurring if the mask was not restored in closed places. The Academy took the side of wearing a mask, recalling that the obligation to wear this protection, combined with strict respect for barrier gestures, had allowed “a spectacular reduction in the incidence of influenza infections, gastroenteritis and bronchiolitis” during the 2020-2021 season. The organization therefore issues several recommendations, deemed necessary:
- the vaccination booster against Covid and the flu.
- wearing an FFP2 type mask in enclosed public spaces for people at risk (elderly or with comorbidity) or healthcare personnel and their entourage.
- the wearing of a surgical-type mask in health spaces and in closed spaces open to the public, in particular public transport.
- respect barrier gestures such as the use of hydroalcoholic gel.
Currently, in addition to vaccination and isolation in the event of symptoms, Santé Publique France recommends wearing a mask in the presence of vulnerable people, in the event of crowding in closed spaces and during large gatherings.
However, public support for mask-wearing appears to be eroding over time. Thus, a study conducted in September 2022 by CoviPrev and published by Public health France early October shows that only 16% of respondents wore a mask in public (compared to 34% in May 2022). At work, 70% of French people said they no longer wear a mask (or do so less often) and 61% do not wear it on public transport, compared to 23% in May. More than half of those surveyed (52%) said they no longer wear the mask out of forgetfulness, but also because of a certain weariness.
Is the mask compulsory on the plane, train, metro and other transport?
In its opinion, the Covars recommends wearing a mask to reduce contamination and notes that “Germany has made wearing a mask compulsory in public transport and is considering extending the list of places of obligation”. In airports, the mask is no longer compulsory as well as in planes, “it nevertheless remains recommended”, indicates Paris airport on its site. The SNCF also ensures that “wearing a mask is strongly recommended in our stations and on our trains”. Transit companies in several cities still suggest wearing a mask. “Let’s keep our good habits”, asks the RATP. Lyon public transport also recommends wearing it in the metros, buses and trams. In Marseille, the RTM indicates that “wearing a mask is strongly recommended throughout the network”.
Wearing a mask remains “highly recommended” in health centers. This recommendation particularly applies to hospitals. The largest hospital group in France, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) went further by specifying that wearing a mask remained “compulsory” inside “its hospital buildings” for “staff, patients and visitors” in order to protect the most vulnerable.
The law on “monitoring and health security in the fight against Covid-19” was definitively adopted by Parliament on July 26. It includes a substantial reduction in most of the mechanisms for combating the virus: in fact, the text formally repeals, from 1er August, the part of the public health code relating to the state of health emergency as well as the system for managing the health crisis, marking the return to common law. The coercive measures of daily life provided for by these regimes – sanitary pass, obligation to wear a mask, confinement, curfew… – can no longer be restored. However, in the context of parliamentary debates prior to the adoption of this health law, the government reiterated its wish that the mask reflex “become the norm again” in “crowded places and public transport”.
If the return of the compulsory mask is not there, it is therefore still widely recommended by the government which encourages everyone to “continue to be vigilant”. The advice applies above all to “closed spaces”, when there are “a lot of people, especially in transport”, as the Prime Minister has explained on several occasions.. The text of the law also insists on the need to continue to apply barrier gestures to protect the most vulnerable. On the other hand, this new law clearly specifies that the wearing of a mask will not be the subject of a national measure of obligation. As of July 2022, the Minister of Health François Braun did not rule out “making it compulsory again in the event that a” new dangerous variant “appears, as he confided to the Parisian.
Transport and shopping centers are on 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). These recommendations are also a call for caution to avoid an epidemic outbreak during the winter.