The strong contagiousness of the new variants of covid-19 had pushed Didier Lepelletier, co-chair of the Covid-19 working group of the High Council of Public Health (HCSP) to intervene at the end of January on the wearing of the mask, explaining that the homemade fabric masks did not filter enough. Guest of the 8 p.m. of TF1, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran had declared that he followed these recommendations and also recommended “to no longer wear the masks made at home” including those made thanks to the tutorial of Afnor.
What masks are we allowed to wear?
“Masks whose filtering power is greater than 90% remain valid” underlined the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, guest of the morning of France Inter Tuesday morning. That is to say, almost all of the so-called “level 1” general public masks sold commercially, as well as surgical masks.
Category 1 or 2: what it means. The classification of fabric masks was established last spring when the shortage of masks pushed all the seamstresses to follow the Afnor boss to make homemade masks. Masks for non-sanitary use called “category 1” must have a filtering power greater than 90%, while so-called “category 2” masks (also now banned) only filter particles by more than 70%. As for homemade masks, they obviously do not have any approval. The filtration performance (90%) must be clearly written on the packaging.
In schools. The health protocol in schools, colleges and high schools was reinforced on February 1. Wearing a category 1 “general public” mask is now compulsory in confined spaces as well as in outdoor spaces, and it is up to parents to provide them, like any other school supply.
In the enterprises. The corporate health protocol was updated on January 29. Wearing a mask “general public filtration greater than 90%” (corresponding to the mask known as “category 1”), or a surgical type mask is recommended if the distance of 2 m cannot be respected between employees .
WHO and Academy of Medicine defend fabric masks
This new precautionary principle “lacks scientific evidence” for the National Academy of Medicine which emphasizes in a press release what‘efficiency ofs masks “general public” has never been taken into account. ofshould ofs when they are properly worn. ”For her part, she recommended not to modify the barrier gestures as they have been defined and improved for several months, but ask that good practices be respected:
- The mask must be worn at all times in public space, even when the physical distance becomes greater than 1 meter.
- It should cover the mouth and nose and should be changed after 4 hours or when it gets wet.
- The condition of fabric masks should be checked after each washing with detergent, and they should no longer be worn for the slightest sign of deterioration.
Finally, the Academy of Medicine suggests that wearing a mask in public transport is accompanied by a very simple precaution: avoid talking and telephoning, so that the virus does not spread in the bus or subway train.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also defends non-surgical fabric masks, which “can be used by all people under the age of 60 who do not have special health problems “said Maria Van Kerkhove, responsible for pandemic management at WHO.
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