“This text is a necessary shield in the face of a Covid-19 epidemic which has not yet said its last word.” The Minister of Health, François Braun, welcomed on Tuesday July 26 the adoption of the bill which explicitly puts an end on August 1 to the exceptional measures to fight against Covid-19. What could be allowed again and what will not be? Franceinfo provides some answers, while the text does not go into detail but sets a general framework in the event of a new health crisis. “If the government needs exceptional powers, it will have to negotiate them one by one with Parliament”declared the rapporteur LR Philippe Bas.
1Are we at risk of a new confinement or a curfew?
No. The text adopted on Tuesday formally repeals the part of the Public Health Code relating to the state of health emergency as well as the health crisis management regime. Consequently, the measures of restraint of daily life provided for by these regimes, including the recourse to confinement as well as to the curfew, can no longer be restored.
2Do you need a health pass to return to France after a holiday abroad?
Neither, because the health pass is also part of the measures that disappear with the health bill. There will therefore be no more health pass checks to enter France from another country from August 1.
The only reservation: the government may impose, in very specific cases, and for a period running until March 31, 2023, a negative Covid-19 screening test before boarding a plane bound for mainland France and for overseas travel.
But this ctravel health certificate will only be activated“in case of appearance and circulation” of a particularly dangerous variant. Or for trips to overseas communities, in the event of a risk of hospital saturation.
3What type of test may be requested to go overseas?
We do not know yet, since it is a measure that will be put in place only if the health threat is serious. In any case, it is no longer the vaccination certificate, nor the proof of recovery that are authentic: the senators only retained as a valid document, in the final version of the adopted bill, that “the result of a virological screening examination not concluding to contamination”. Should the measure come into force, it will be imposed on all people aged twelve and over, an age hotly debated during the parliamentary review.
4Can the government alone decide to make this travel health certificate mandatory?
It is written black and white in the adopted bill that it is the Prime Minister who can, “by decree”, “impose” these screening tests. But the head of government must do so on the basis of a report from the Minister of Health and “after advice from the competent scientific authority”.
For the system intended for overseas territories, the local executives and parliamentarians elected in the community concerned must be consulted. These provisions can only be put in place by decree for two months. Beyond that, it will have to go through a vote of Parliament.
5How do we know if we are in contact?
Like today, because the tools for monitoring the epidemic are maintained. Contact Covid, which monitors and supports infected people and their contact cases, has been extended until January 31, 2023. The national screening information system (Sidep), which centralizes all test results , is extended until June 30, 2023. The goal is that the French can easily access the certificates allowing them to travel in Europe. This with the consent of the persons concerned.
6Will unvaccinated caregivers be reinstated?
Yes, but not immediately and under conditions. The health bill creates a procedure imposing the effective reinstatement of health personnel suspended because they have not been vaccinated, as soon as the health situation no longer justifies imposing a vaccination obligation on them. This is not currently the case, but it will be up to the High Authority for Health to realize this observation. It may act on its own or be seized by the Minister of Health, the Covid-19 control and liaison committee, or by the social affairs committees of the National Assembly or the Senate.
7Will the mask still be compulsory in hospitals and nursing homes?
It is not certain. Wearing a mask is no longer mandatory since March 14 in closed places open to the public, but it remained so in health and medico-social establishments, as well as in the places of exercise of health professionals, from 6 years old. Since the August 1, the government will no longer be able to impose it, including, therefore, in hospitals and for the elderly. However, he very strongly recommends it and has other legal avenues to make it mandatory.
“It remains the common law of the Public Health Code, and in particular its article L3131-1“recalls the deputy LR Philippe Gosselin in The Parisian. This article allows the Minister of Health to take “any regulatory or individual measure relating to the organization and operation of the health system”, by order, “in the event of a serious health threat calling for emergency measures, in particular in the event of a threat of an epidemic”. This rule also applies to nursing homes, according to Philippe Bas.
A hospital director therefore has the possibility of imposing the wearing of a mask in the establishment he directs, or in a part of it. “For example, he could impose it on visitors to a service welcoming Covid patients or more vulnerable people”explains the jurist Serge Slama in The Parisian. The daily also questioned the director of the CHR of Metz-Thionville and the director of the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Marseille: both say they are in favor of this maintenance.