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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director)
While several regions are experiencing an increase in Covid cases this summer, Aurélien Rousseau, new Minister of Health, casts doubt on a possible return of the mask in public places, depending on the evolution of the situation.
Will the end of summer be hidden? The question could well arise in a few weeks, if the health situation were to worsen. Faced with the slight increase in emergency room visits reported due to Covid, the Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau did not rule out this option on France Inter.
A return “in the hospital and in the metro” soon to be mentioned in the Assembly
The Minister was thus confronted with the current situation. In its latest bulletin, Santé Publique France thus urged caution, while “a slight increase” in cases of Covid-19 contamination was raging in several regions of the country, in a context of shortage of caregivers in certain hospitals.
For the time being Aurélien Rousseau remains cautious: “Today, the lifts are localized, the increase in visits to hospital services is measured”. However, the minister does not rule out changing course, and considering a return of the mask:
“We will see according to the epidemic situation. The question is first put to the healthcare teams in the hospitals. These are measures that will have to be banal: we will wear the mask in the hospital, in the metro when we have symptoms , I hope so during questions to the government in the Assembly”.
The usefulness of the surgical mask still questioned
An answer that annoys Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician in the field, and medical director of Doctissimo.
“We are not there at all today! Moreover, what is the real effectiveness of masks? At some point, before putting on masks which have consequences on people’s social life, perhaps would it be necessary to have feedback and the evaluation of the measures taken previously? However, today, no evaluation has been made on the real usefulness of this wearing of the mask”.
According to him, only three data on the mask are useful so far:
- When you are sick, whether it is covid or the flu, or any viral disease, you put on a surgical mask to protect others;
- On the other hand, the surgical mask worn by fragile people as a simple precaution makes no sense because it does not provide sufficient protection and falsely reassures;
- Only the FFP2 mask could really protect the most fragile people.
In this context, imposing the surgical mask would therefore be of no use against the virus.