Covid-19: towards the return of the mandatory mask? Cowards understand the situation

Just “recommended” since last May, will wearing a mask become mandatory again in transport or even in other places open to the public? The Health Risk Monitoring and Prediction Committee (Covars) has just taken up this issue with the government, one of its members tells us, confirming the RMC information. His goal is to “go fast” in order to make his decision.

France is hit by the 9th wave of Covid-19, in particular due to the gradual introduction of the new Omicron BQ.1.1 variant. Nearly 55,000 positive cases and more than 1,000 hospitalizations are registered daily, up 38% and 25%, respectively, in less than one week. In addition to other circulating respiratory viruses, Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne on Tuesday issued a “solemn plea” to wear a mask in transport and enclosed spaces, welcoming a fragile public.

“Depending on the evolution of the pandemic, we may have to take other measures,” Health Minister François Braun said for his part on Thursday evening in France 5. His entourage tells us that he “contacts Covars regularly on many issues” and that they are “full of their watchdog role”.

legal puzzle

In its first opinion, published at the end of October, Covars believes that “the message about wearing masks should be amplified, stimulating, simple, clear and repetitive.” He did not recommend any commitment except in medical settings. If someday this council of scientists and experts changes its position and recommends mandatory mask-wearing in other places, the government will be free to follow it. However, this is generally what it does.

Then a legal question would arise: not what kind of bias to impose a mask? Since August 1, France has withdrawn from the legal field of the “law concerning the management of the exit from the health crisis.” It was replaced by a law “abolishing the exceptional regimes created to combat the epidemic (Covid-19)”, but does not provide for anything in this regard. “Apart from places where patients are admitted, there is no longer a legislative mechanism to enforce the wearing of a mask,” lawyer Guillaume de Dura told us in early October.

The government should either pass a new law that promises to be an obstacle course, or a ministerial decree… at the risk that the Council of State will oppose it. “We would really have to face a real health threat for this to be confirmed,” lawyer Caroline Lantero said, calling the measure “acrobatic.”