Winter viruses will soon make their return to France. However, 43% of people say they never wear a mask when they are sick.
- This year again, 43% of French people say they never wear a mask, even if they have symptoms, in the presence of vulnerable people or in busy places.
- For more than half of the people questioned, the intentions to maintain barrier gestures or to increase their adoption next winter are mainly motivated by the return of a new Covid-19 epidemic.
- However, 15% of adults believe that there is no reason to push them to continue or increase the adoption of barrier gestures.
“How is French support for preventive measures against winter viruses evolving?” This is the question answered by Public Health France in a “CoviPrev” survey published this Tuesday, October 15. As part of this survey, conducted between August 30 and September 9, 2024, the health authority questioned a nationally representative sample of 2,000 people aged 18 and over, via the Internet, at each wave of the study. In detail, participants answered questions “on the frequency of adoption of barrier gestures (wearing a mask, washing hands, ventilating rooms, etc.) over the last 12 months.” Then, the data was compared to that collected from September 11 to 18, 2023.
Wearing a mask: only 13% of citizens do so in the event of symptoms
According to the results, 29% of CoviPrev volunteers said they wear a mask often (16%) or systematically (13%), in the event of symptoms, in the presence of vulnerable people or in busy places. However, 43% of French people said they never wear a mask in these risky situations, and 7% never wash their hands with soap or hydroalcoholic gel. “On average, whatever the barrier gesture concerned, the proportion of respondents declaring never respecting them was higher among men, people in a situation of inactivity, people opposed to vaccination in general, people declaring not be at risk of severe form of Covid-19, as well as people residing in rural areas”, can we read in the survey.
Barrier gestures: no reason would encourage 15% of French people to adopt them
But what would push adults to continue to apply barrier gestures or to respect them more often? In 2023, half or more of the citizens surveyed mentioned “the return of the Covid-19 epidemic” and “the desire not to be sick or not to contaminate loved ones”, these two reasons were also chosen at identical proportions of 53% each in 2024.
The data showed that the proportion of respondents indicating that they were encouraged to apply barrier gestures or to respect them more often in the case of a flu epidemic or another winter illness fell by half compared to Covid- 19. “People saying that the arrival of a flu epidemic would make them adopt more barrier gestures were more numerous among people aged 65 or over (36%), CSP+ (34%), people declaring themselves in poor general health (40%), as well as among people at risk of severe form of Covid-19 (33%).”
For 15% of French people, no reason would push them to continue or increase the adoption of barrier gestures (compared to 13% in September 2023).
