After the Minister of Health Brigitte Bourguignon, it is the turn of‘Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, to recommend wearing a sanitary mask in closed places, in the face of the sharp increase in the number of cases of Covid-19. A message conveyed by Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, who invites passengers to “citizenship” on trains and in stations. The infectiologist Gilles Pialoux, he deplores Wednesday June 29 on franceinfo “a measure of expectation”.
>> INFOGRAPHICS. Covid-19: where is the epidemic recovery in France and Europe?
franceinfo: What do you think of this recommendation from the Prime Minister on wearing a mask in closed places?
Gilles Pialoux: I think it’s a political line which, given what we’re seeing, this variant called BA5 and the rise in the numbers, is a waiting measure. That is, a measure of expectation versus mass stress measures. I don’t see why the French would be smarter than in Spain, Italy or Greece. We should have used this time of relative calm to precisely introduce prevention messages that go beyond the framework of the mask. People hardly buy hydro-alcoholic solutions anymore. There is a small increase in testing this week which is very good news. So yes, I think it’s a waiting period and it’s also a bit of a political calendar.
Beyond public transport, should the mask be put back on more generally?
It is a political decision. What is true with the BA5 variant which is dominant is the increase in transmissibility. It is extremely contagious and makes you sicker than the early Omicron variants. Obviously, we can appeal to civility and individual responsibility. But here, we are in the middle of a wave. It’s complicated all of a sudden to change people’s culture. We have to manage waves, but they are not at all trivialized.
Should we put the mask back on at work?
It depends on the working conditions. There too, we could have continued to install a little prevention. Maintain teleworking when possible, yes. But there is another area that has not been invested in at all, despite the advice of scientific advice and experts: it is the whole question of aeration and CO2 detectors, filters, etc. In the schools, we have not made progress.
Can we hope that the school holidays that are starting will slow down this seventh wave?
Sure. There will be a braking part which is due to the fact that we now know that the school universe, with very low vaccination of children, is a place of propagation of the virus. That is very clear with the absence of class closures. On this point, there will be a share of braking, but the summer is also the period when we travel a lot more. And the rate of wearing a mask on public transport, on trains, on planes is at a very low level.