COVID MASK. Faced with the increase in contamination linked to Covid-19, the subject of wearing a mask is once again in question. Will protection become mandatory again?
It seemed totally a thing of the past since wearing it was no longer mandatory. But at the start of summer, the subject of the mask resurfaces, while the cases of Covid-19 have experienced a certain increase in recent days. Protection, which had been imposed on everyone for very long months in daily life, will it again interfere in our lives? Some French people, especially in transport, prefer to continue to wear a mask, of their own free will, when the majority of the population has nevertheless chosen to drop it. However, while the health authorities, mainly Public Health France, note an increase in contamination at coronavirus, can the mask again be imposed in many places as was the case during the peak of the pandemic? What are the government and scientists saying on the subject? We take stock.
The subject has returned to the front of the news in recent days. If for a few months, the mask is no longer compulsory in transport, shops and businesses, various reflections are carried out on this subject. But, let’s say it straight away, the return of an obligation does not appear to be the preferred track. At this stage, it is only a matter of recommendations and common sense. In any case, this is the message that Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Scientific Council, wanted to convey, an organization which, according to him, is not campaigning to reimpose protection. “It seems logical, for fragile people, in crowded places, to postpone the mask. Yes, I recommend it”, simply declared the doctor on RTL, Thursday, June 30. Remarks which corroborated those of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who had called for wearing it “in places of promiscuity” and “enclosed spaces”, and more particularly in “public transport”, not to mention obligation, this last option having been ruled out by Brigitte Bourguignon on Monday 27 June. The Minister of Health had also only recommended to fragile people to wear a mask, but also to the whole population in places of high attendance, which she considers to be a “citizen duty”.
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, as in “enclosed places where we are in direct promiscuity”, according to the Minister of Health. As such, 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 the government website). The government recalls 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.