COVID-19. Should the mask be removed indoors in places subject to the health card?

In many departments, where the situation is deteriorating at high speed, governors have recommitted to wearing a mask outdoors.

This is the case, for example, in Charente-Maritime, where the epidemic is rampant: with the exception of beaches, parks, gardens and forests, a mask has again become mandatory in several dozen particularly tourist cities.

misunderstanding

This procedure sometimes leads to misunderstanding – so far it seems that the risk of outdoor pollution is very low. But the more contagious delta variant has changed the situation: it is likely to strike at a short distance, in a very short period of time, even in well-ventilated places.

which makes The decree, which was published on Monday, July 19, has become incomprehensible :

Which is difficult to understand: the governor, as well as the operator of the places in question or the regulator, can still restore or maintain the obligatory mask-wearing:

However, the health card, even if it is effective, is not an absolute guarantee of non-exposure to contamination or contamination: based on proof of vaccination, previous contamination or even a negative test, since June 19 it allows access to places where more than 1,000 people gather . Threshold lowered to 50 from Wednesday, July 21.

“Precautions!”

this Tuesday morning, in France Inter, epidemiologist Dominic Costaliola was alarmed by the revocation of the obligation to wear a mask in these circumstances:

Belt and Braces: The scientist joins the theory known as “Gruyère” – or rather, “Emmental”, because it is a matter of cheese with holes.

According to this model, every measure to reduce virus spread is imperfect – the virus is able to pass through the left “holes,” as this illustration shows:

On the other hand, stacking cheese “slices” makes it possible to “close” the holes: each additional action thus compensates for the weaknesses of the others.

Gathering in a nightclub is subject to a health card

I am not sure, in these circumstances where the epidemic is advancing at an unprecedented speed, lifting the mask indoors, even for a supposedly healthy public, does not cause a new, stronger epidemic rebound.

Particularly if professionals, such as bars and restaurants, are reluctant to enforce a health permit.

On the evening of the reopening of discotheques, on July 9, an outbreak of at least 35 people infected during a night in a disco appeared. The establishment has since been closed until further notice.