It has now been three weeks, since March 14, that wearing a mask is no longer compulsory in closed places, except for transport. The sites whose access was conditional on the health pass are now open to all. Isolation is also no longer systematic when one is a contact case. While some still scrupulously apply barrier gestures, others have abandoned them. Between these two extremes, everyone makes their choices, sometimes on a case-by-case basis.
But what are the doctors and scientists who have been working on Covid-19 and its consequences for more than two years doing? How do these experts, for some who are exposed to the virus on a daily basis, position themselves? What do they think of the lifting of restrictions, when France is experiencing an epidemic rebound? Franceinfo collected the testimonies of nine of these specialists. All continue to wear the mask in certain circumstances (especially at work, because it remains compulsory in the hospital), but their opinions and their attitudes differ, proof that these questions are not easy to decide.
“Wearing the mask remains a habit”
Emmanuel Rusch, epidemiologist and president of the French Society of Public Health:
“I take maybe thirty seconds longer to put my mask on when I walk into a store. That stress of forgetting it is gone. But I try to keep wearing it every time, and I keep doing it at the cinema and at the theater. Less at the cafe, it’s true. Working in the hospital, I already have to remain masked for most of my working time, which perhaps explains why it remains a habit.
When I go to the Ministry of Health, to the regional health agencies, to the university where I teach, there are no longer any masks in the hallways. It shocks me, because I have the impression that we are in two different worlds.
We don’t always know who is fragile or not. I think a lot of people don’t realize that most of us have at-risk people around us. I do not have the impression, for example, that people pay particular attention in the presence of people in a situation of obesity, which is a criterion of vulnerability.
“Seven days of bed rest, I don’t want that”
Denis Malvy, infectious disease specialist in charge of the tropical diseases unit at the Bordeaux University Hospital and member of the Scientific Council:
“I keep the mask on in circumstances where I believe there is a risk, which I assess like any citizen who has two years of experience with this pandemic. When I go shopping, I wear it. I will in the restaurant, but I make sure that the space is airy and that we are not packed like sardines.
I observe, in my entourage, that symptomatic Covid-19, even when it does not require hospitalization, is seven days of bed rest, very painful body aches, loss of taste and smell. I’ve escaped it so far and, personally, I don’t want that.
I don’t have to judge people’s behavior. But I think that with a minimum of constraints, we can do a lot [contre la propagation du virus]. The intensive care units are not overwhelmed, but the patients who are there today are immunocompromised. They ask to be protected and it must be done.”
“It’s true that in recent days, I have doubts a little more”
Samira Fafi-Kremer, director of the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital of Strasbourg:
“I admit that I have sometimes gone to the bakery without a mask. And that not having to wear it is pleasant. On the other hand, I avoid places where there are a lot of people and I always keep a mask at hand if that’s the case, even outside. The other day, I put it on at the cinema, in a small room which was crowded. There must have been four or five of us doing it.
My children do not need instructions from me, they are even stricter than me. Already, when I took it outside, my daughter said to me: ‘Mom, you are a virologist, you are still not going to remove the mask’. On the first day of the end of the obligation in class, she had decided to continue wearing it. But they were only two, so it didn’t last.
The lifting of restrictions may have been too quick. But I feel a little hypocritical to say it, because we were all happy not to have to wear the mask anymore. The weather was fine, the cases were dropping. It is true that in recent days, I doubt a little more.
“I keep a CO2 detector on”
William Dab, epidemiologist, professor at Cnam and former director general of health:
“I haven’t changed anything in my habits. The only place where I no longer wear the FFP2 mask is in the street. There, I leave class, where I ask all my students to continue to wear the mask and where I keep a CO2 detector on. This is also how I measure whether restaurants have enough ventilation before I go there.
To say that only fragile people should protect themselves is epidemiological nonsense. The mask is not 100% effective, no measure is, that’s why you have to combine them as much as possible. These measures are not so restrictive, it is not a confinement. But our authorities have systematically been ‘reassuring’, and the figures of recent weeks show it again.
It is said that the French are fed up with the mask, but I would like to see studies on this subject. In my building or when I go shopping, I see people still wearing it. I was at the theater on Saturday and everyone was masked. I find that the benefit of lifting this obligation is not so tangible.”
“I especially try to avoid crowded places”
Marie-Paule Kieny, virologist specializing in vaccination and research director at Inserm:
“I always wear a mask at scientific conferences or concerts. For the rest, I try above all to avoid crowded places. other athletes.
In the family sphere, the situation is clearly more relaxed. Especially because many have already had Covid-19, even if this is not the case for me or my husband. We simply avoid looking after our grandchildren if they have a dry cough, for example.
I think it was time to move on [en allégeant les restrictions]. But there are still rules and what annoys me is when people don’t follow them. Like this lady who wore her mask on her chin in a TGV where I was the other day, and who protested when I made a remark to her. Some take advantage of the relaxation. It is important not to forget respect for others.”
“I do not prevent myself from living”
Jean-Michel Constantin, head of the intensive care unit at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris:
“It all depends on the number of people around and the breathability of the place. When I’m at the checkout in a department store, I put on a mask, but not when there are three of us at my butcher’s. Of course, I wear it systematically when there are elderly or at-risk people.
A few days ago, we saw a dozen friends and it was a mini-cluster. Knowing that I was in contact and that my companion was positive, I isolated myself and kept my mask on at all times.
But I don’t stop myself from living. And given the hospital pressure at the moment, which is bearable, it does not shock me that we let the contamination slip away. We must take advantage of the fact that we are not facing a more dangerous variant. And hope the weather turns nice.
“You have to have this responsibility, when you are in contact, to consider that you could transmit the virus to everyone.”
Jean-Michel Constantin, resuscitatorat franceinfo
“I didn’t go back to the bar at all”
Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious diseases department at the Tenon hospital in Paris:
“At work, I’m on the ‘Covid floor’, so I wear an FFP2 all day. Outside, I keep a surgical mask in all enclosed spaces, when I take the elevator, when I do my shopping. ..
I haven’t gone back to the bar at all: I can’t see myself talking at five, huddled together and standing at the back of a room, even if these are pleasant moments. I went to see a concert recently, but I stayed masked. You are compressed at security, at the counter… It’s easier than taking it off and putting it back on all the time. But in the room, there must have been 50 masks for 500 people.
I find it very damaging that we have gone, without transition, from a crisis managed by obligation to a situation where everything is left to individual responsibility. I don’t think everyone has all the issues in mind: the risk for children, the risk of long Covid… We had the means to do more education.”
“It shouldn’t be an individual matter”
Samuel Alizon, CNRS researcher, specialist in modeling the evolution of viruses:
“There, for example, I am indoors, so I wear the mask. I do it almost all the time when I am in closed and shared places. It is in bars, restaurants and at parties that I find the situation more complicated. I try to only go to a restaurant if I can sit on the terrace or if there is no one else in the room.
It shouldn’t be a matter of individual guilt, we’re talking about collective and political choices. As epidemiologists, we are obviously biased, but we have the impression of living totally out of step when the subject is totally absent from the electoral campaign.
“Too bad the mask isn’t more highly recommended”
Anne Geffroy-Wernet, doctor at the University Hospital of Perpignan and president of the National Union of Hospital Anesthetists-Intensive Care Practitioners (SNPHARE):
“The first time I entered a store after the end of the obligation to wear a mask, I did not put one on. But, immediately, I did not feel comfortable, and I ‘ve started wearing it again. I wear it much less outside than before, because I live in the countryside, but I’m going to Paris soon and I think I’ll wear it permanently in the street.
I had a contact case recently, but in the hospital you can’t isolate yourself. That would mean deprogramming patients. Last week, 20% of my team of anesthetists-resuscitators was absent because positive.
“Me too, I’m fed up with the mask, everyone is fed up…”
Anne Geffroy-Wernet, anesthesiologist-resuscitatorat franceinfo
It is a pity that the mask is not, at least, more highly recommended. It’s terrible to see people say: ‘I’m fed up, I’ll only put it back on when it’s mandatory’, even though they are next to the elderly, cancer patients…
In the weeks to come, we will find ourselves in intensive care with non-vaccinated people, but also immunocompromised people, who have a lower sensitivity to vaccination. Better to have a surgical mask on your head than an oxygen mask.”