Few faces are hiding on the Paris metro trains this weekend. “At the moment, I’m not worried about more than that,” admits a passenger with BFMTV. “I wear the mask when there are people, but not when there is no one,” argues another. In other parts of the city as well, the mask seems to be just a memory.
“We are outside and then, inside, we are not against the people either”, justifies a woman, with a clear face, in front of a crowded store.
Faced with the possible return of the mandatory mask, some pout, tired of the coercive measures of Covid-19. “Each one must respect and then choose, we have had many obligations lately,” judges another interviewee.
Currently, the mask is simply recommended in closed and very crowded places. Since the end of the state of health emergency, it cannot be made mandatory.
But the threat of a growing triple epidemic (Covid-19, influenza, bronchiolitis) could change the situation. On the set of BFMTV on Sunday, Health Minister François Braun assured that he will not hesitate to change the rules.
“If we continue to increase pollution, my arm will not shake if we have to decide on the mandatory nature of the mask, even in all circumstances, if we reach that level,” he announced.
The former president of Samu-Urgences de France, however, tempered by specifying that the situation does not require a return to this daily obligation. “I follow the situation day by day and the decisions will follow the situation,” he said.
Threat of the new variant
However, the Covid-19 indicators are in the red. Every day, on average, Public Health France targets 1,000 new hospitalizations and 55,000 new positive tests. The incidence rate has also exceeded the bar of 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The main cause of this rebound? The arrival of a new subvariant, the BQ.1.1. “It has an ability to infect people more than the other variants, as well as an ability to escape the immune system that is more important,” Benjamin Rossi, infectologist at the Robert Ballanger hospital center (Seine-Saint -Dennis).
Beyond the mandatory mask or not, the best way to protect yourself is still vaccination. François Braun once again asked the French to get vaccinated, while the campaign for the 4th dose fades.
“I make a solemn call for vaccination. It is still absurd, we know that if we do not vaccinate, we are going to have deaths and we do not vaccinate ”, he lamented.
The new vaccination campaign with the so-called “bivalent” vaccines, capable of attacking both the original strain of the virus and variants close to Omicron, is far from a success. Since October 3, less than 10% of those over 80 years of age have received this additional booster dose and 3% of those over 12 years of age.
Source: BFM TV
