While several French cities have taken the plunge, such as Nice, Cannes or Suresnes, health authorities have so far deemed street disinfection as “useless” and “dangerous”.
- Several cities have decided to disinfect their streets and/or street furniture
- The Ministry of Health considers this measure unnecessary, but an international study is underway to assess its interest.
The initiative started in China and South Korea where streets have been widely disinfected to combat the spread of the coronavirus. In France, several cities have followed the same method. This was the case in Nice, Cannes, Menton, Montauban, in Corsica or even in Suresnes in Île-de-France. However, the effectiveness of this maneuver has not been demonstrated and it ended up being discouraged by the health authorities.
“Useless” disinfection
At this stage, the Ministry of Health and the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS) consider that disinfecting streets and public spaces using diluted bleach is not the good solution. “The spraying of bleach or other disinfectant is useless while being dangerous for the environment”, responded ARS officials to the Paris City Hall, which asked for an opinion on the need to disinfect the capital. This answer, specifies the ARS, remains provisional. An international comparative study must be carried out by the High Council for Public Health, and if the latter concludes in favor of disinfection, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses) will no doubt have to draw up a specific protocol.
The justification for the uselessness of disinfection is based on several points. It’s first “the low persistence of the virus on surfaces” combined with “the general obligation of confinement” which led the ARS to issue a negative opinion, because “the viral load in the environment should be considered negligible”. Beyond the relatively useless look is the “dangerous for the environment” which is put forward, in particular the risk for the watercourses where the disinfectants used can flow. Finally, the possibility that some people are bothered by inhaling the odors of these products was also mentioned.
Some cities do it anyway
Despite these negative opinions, municipalities disinfect their streets daily. This is the case in Cannes where the mayor uses a bleach-based solution. “three percent of bleach is diluted and diffused. It is not only cleaning street furniture or public spaces in front of places where people still go such as hospitals, pharmacies or food surfaces, it is also to support healthcare staff and people who work.detailed the city councilor, David Lisnard, at the microphone of RMC.
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