COVID MASK. As the number of Covid cases increases, the question of wearing a mask in transport is once again being raised. Will he be reimposed?
Will it again be necessary to wear the mask in public transport, just a few weeks after it was able to be removed by users? The subject has been raised in recent days in the face of the increase in cases of Covid-19. But opinions differ on the matter. The latest, this Thursday, June 30, 2022, that of Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Scientific Council. guest on RTL, this leading personality when the pandemic was at its highest level did not come out in favor of an obligation to wear protection in closed places. The doctor, however, encourages the most fragile to put it back on, as indicated by Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, as well as Brigitte Bourguignon, the Minister of Health. “It seems logical, for fragile people, in places of promiscuity, to postpone the mask. Yes I recommend it”, he indicated on the radio, justifying the absence of obligation: “if we stay with a certain number of fixed positions, that does not stick. We need acceptability on the part of our fellow citizens. We have gone from a period of injunction to a recommendation. I am for this attitude of recommendation.
For two years, the French had the obligation to wear the mask in public transport, under penalty of a fine. Could such a device be put in place again? For the time being, there is no question of it, said Brigitte Bourguignon. “I will not go as far as the obligation”, at this stage, indicated the Minister of Health on June 27. The government is dismissing the hypothesis for the moment, and should only take new decisions if contamination continues to rise, and sharply. Elisabeth Borne also called for wearing it “in crowded places” and “enclosed spaces”, and more particularly in “public transport”, not to mention obligation.
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.