The Minister of Health announced on Wednesday the lifting of this very symbolic health restriction, without mentioning immunocompromised people, always vulnerable against COVID-19.
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This is the end of a symbol. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, said on Wednesday May 11 that “from Monday, May 16, the port of the mask will no longer be compulsory in all public transport”. Metro, bus, train, plane or taxis: the rule will be the same as in the rest of the public places, namely that the “mask remains recommended” but will no longer be required. This health measure is “no longer adapted”, judged Mr. Véran at the end of the Council of Ministers since “the situation improves”.
Indeed, the incidence rate joined the level he had in early December 2021, when the omicron variant imposed itself in France – even if it remains well above peaks of the third and fourth waves , in April and August 2021, and that more than 38,000 people are still diagnosed positive at COVID-19 every day. On the hospital side, fewer and fewer patients are admitted daily in services, including critical care, where more than 1,300 people are currently welcomed. The drop in the number of deaths also continues, even if 100 people still die from the disease daily.
“It is a symbolic measure which will probably have no major effect on the epidemic situation, which is today much better”, analyzes Mahmoud Zureik, professor of epidemiology and public health at university from Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The lifting of the obligation to carry the mask in closed places receiving the public, in mid-March, probably had much more impact, when the subvariant BA.2 increased the number of contaminations.
very reduced restrictions
“It is however a shame that the obligation is also lifted for long train and plane journeys, since they are closed places where users are in contact for a long time, with an increased risk of transmission”, nuance Mr. Zureik. The European Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) and the European Disease Prevention and Control Center (ECDC) also abandoned, Wednesday , the Recommendation of the compulsory port of masks in airports and on board a flight. The agencies thus align themselves “largely with the changing requirements of national authorities through Europe for public transport,” said the executive director of AESA, Patrick Ky, greeting “a big step forward in the normalization of the air transport “.
In France, health restrictions for the general public are thus reduced to their congruent portion: a health pass remains necessary to access health establishments, such as hospitals and nursing homes, at least until summer , according to Mr. Véran. In addition, people tested positive are always asked to isolate themselves at least a week. Regarding the vaccination obligation, non -vaccinated caregivers will not be reintegrated immediately, but the government does not exclude changing its position. “We will have to regulate ourselves regularly,” said Véran, who will soon seize the High Authority for Health (HAS) on the subject.
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