“Probably in mid-March, if the conditions are right, we can lighten up again.” With a “normal running” for hospitals and traffic “very weak” of Covid-19, “notWe will be able to remove the masks for adults and for children, for all or part of the closed places, including without a pass”assured the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, Wednesday, February 16 on franceinfo. “We could also start to lighten the vaccination pass earlier, but keep it in places that are very at risk”, he added.
But for some epidemiologists, the end of wearing a mask must be considered and correlated with respect for barrier gestures. Because, currently, even if all the indicators of the epidemic are falling, the virus is still running, as shown by the nearly 100,000 cases (98,735) recorded on Wednesday. More than 30,000 people are still hospitalized and more than 3,000 patients are still in critical care, according to figures published by Public Health France on Wednesday evening.
Olivier Véran, however, wants to be confident for the weeks to come. “The circulation dynamic of the virus is weakening very strongly and if we continue on this dynamic, we will be able to completely get out of the wave within a few weeks”he assured. “Which means that the strategy we announced to the French [le 20 janvier], with progressive relief in 15-day increments, is a good strategy that works.”
Since February 2, the executive has begun a gradual lifting of health restrictions by first removing the obligation to wear a mask outdoors and abandoning the gauges in performance halls or stadiums. The second stage, which began on Wednesday, again authorizes standing consumption in bars, cafes and restaurants, attending standing concerts, going to nightclubs, which have finally reopened, or even drinking and eating in stadiums, cinemas or public transport.
Another big change, scheduled for February 28: the end of the mandatory wearing of masks in places closed subject to the vaccination pass (cinemas, theatres, museums, fairs…). At the restaurant, at the bar or in a café, it will no longer be necessary to wear it either when going to your seat or to go to the toilet, or to pay at the counter. But wearing a mask indoors will always be compulsory in public transport (metro, buses, trains, planes, etc.) and closed places not subject to the vaccination pass (hospitals, administrations, public services, shops, offices, etc.). .). When returning from the winter holidays, schools will also see their health protocol lightened, as announced Jean-Michel Blanquer on February 11. This will particularly concern wearing a mask, which will no longer be compulsory for pupils in the playground, but will remain so indoors.
This strategy for lifting restrictions is obviously conditional on the evolution of the epidemic in the coming weeks, recalled the Minister of Health. He will have to the hospital either “in normal operating condition, that we no longer have to deprogram care, that the health load in intensive care does not exceed 1,000 to 1,500 patients” and that the circulation of the virus is “very weak”, insisted Olivier Véran.
However, this strategy is not based “on no coherent and concrete health indicator, defined by a fixed threshold”, castigates epidemiologist Dominique Costagliola to franceinfo. “What does it mean to return to normal functioning? of the hospital ?”asks the director of research at Inserm, who believes that the operation of the hospital should be back “below normal” to reduce health restrictions. “There is a long way to go before arriving at a situation where we no longer deprogram [des opérations non urgentes]she explains. There is a lot of care and operations to catch up on and hospitalizations directly or indirectly linked to Covid-19 still force hospital staff to reorganize care. It is “still early” to say that the wearing of the compulsory mask can be lifted, recalling that “more than 300 deaths linked to Covid-19 took place yesterday [mardi] to the hospital”.
“The concomitance is not worth causation, but these announcements of the lifting of restrictions every 15 days seem to me to be more modeled on the electoral calendar than anything else.”
Dominique Costagliola, epidemiologistat franceinfo
“Knowing that it is likely that we have not yet seen all the evolutionary possibilities that the virus has, it would be good to avoid saying that it is soon over. Because, if the situation improves, it will not doesn’t mean it’s final. she concludes. Before pointing out that the government has been careful, for the moment, to mention under what conditions the restrictions could be extended.
Although the announced end of the wearing of the mask coincides with the spring and the return of open windows, and therefore of greater ventilation, Pascal Crepey, epidemiologist at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health in Rennes, also invites to be careful. “This lifting of the mask seems relevant to me, provided that the epidemiological context follows and that this obligation is replaced by individual responsibility”he points out to franceinfo. “We must keep our masks handy, including the day when the virus will circulate very weakly”, he insists.
“The mask is a tool for hygiene and prevention in the face of the risk of infection. This is why we have to get used to making the decision ourselves to wear it when necessary. Either because we risk being contaminated, either because we can be contaminating.
Pascal Crepey, epidemiologistat franceinfo
On LCI, Mircea Sofonea, epidemiologist in Montpellier, described this measure as “Politics”. “Just because there are fewer car accidents doesn’t mean you decide to take the seat belt off”, he pointed out. Especially since in March, “No one knows where we’ll be.”