Faced with the threat of new variants of Covid-19, France is issuing new recommendations to its inhabitants to protect themselves from the virus, with in particular new directives concerning the wearing of masks and a strengthening of social distancing measures.
- The recommended physical distance is increased to 2 meters.
- The National Academy of Medicine recommends being silent in transport.
While the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in France is in full swing and the establishment of a third confinement increasingly looming, new variants pose a major new threat. In particular the one that appeared in England in September, (which would be even more contagious and potentially more deadly) identified in 23 European countries, including France.
These concerns lead to the formulation of new measures, issued by both the government and the National Academy of Medicine (ANM). Earlier in the week, we learned that the cloth masks would be ineffective to protect against the variant originating in England.
On Thursday January 21, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran followed the advice of the High Council for Public Health and recommended that the French favor wearing a surgical mask or category 1 fabric.
Avoid talking or phoning on public transport
To this are added new recommendations, including in particular those to establish a distance of two meters (and no more than one meter), as well as to remain silent in public transport, where this social distancing can hardly be respected. , given the promiscuity between travelers. Indeed, the new variant, like SARS-CoV2, would be transmitted by speech.
“The compulsory wearing of a mask in public transport, where physical distance cannot be respected, must be accompanied by a very simple precaution: avoid talking and phoning“, advocates the National Academy of Medicine in a statement released Friday, January 22.
The learned society, however, issues a different opinion from that of the government concerning the abandonment of so-called “artisanal” masks: “Such a change in the recommendations concerning a practice with which the entire population had managed to familiarize themselves risks causing misunderstanding and reviving doubts about the validity of the official recommendations..”
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