The cleanup started on Monday. Men in yellow overalls in the streets of Valenciennes spread a diluted bleach product with a Karcher. Objective: disinfect the streets of the city. “As part of the precautionary measures aimed at reducing the risks of development of the COVID-19 epidemic on our territory, the services of the municipality of Valenciennes in connection with the Suez teams have started, since this Monday, March 30, bleach cleaning operation of certain axes and strategic places of the city “, wrote the city in a press release.
Not all streets are affected. The town hall says to focus “on certain axes of the city and most frequented places, in particular the surroundings of the Center Hospitalier de Valenciennes and of the laboratories, the EPAHD, the nurseries and schools welcoming the children of the nursing staff. ” And she specifies that “the product is sufficiently dosed to be effective for 2 weeks, without attacking the various supports (asphalt, street furniture, borders, etc.).”
A clarification that goes against the recommendations of the Directorate General of Health at the national level. According to this public body, “ the effects of washing the soil with a chlorinated product disappear after a few tens of seconds “
Dangerous for the environment ?
In Douai, a neighboring town, the mayor Frédéric Chéreau has also chosen to follow this advice. He writes on his Facebook page : “Massive disinfection of roads is to be avoided. The association of cities for urban cleanliness (of which Douai is a member) questioned the Ministry of Solidarity and Health. The spraying of bleach or other disinfectant is perfectly useless from a health point of view while being dangerous for the environment. “
Same reasoning in Calais (Pas-de-Calais): “Taking into account on the one hand the low persistence of the virus on surfaces and, on the other hand, the general obligation of containment, the viral load in the environment is indeed considered to be negligible. Consequently the spraying bleach or any other disinfectant is not considered scientifically useful “, wrote the city in a press release.
Is disinfecting streets with little traffic at present useful? Is the virus susceptible to this kind of cleaning? No, according to the government, which states on its official website that “the effectiveness of systematic street disinfection […] is not demonstrated“.
However, the number of cities carrying out these disinfections is increasing: Nice, Cannes, Reims, Suresnes, Asnières-sur-Seine … In Doullens (Somme) and Gauchy (Aisne), the town hall has also carried out the same operation. “We saw the disinfection images in China, then heard that cities in the south of France were going to do it, so we started “, explains Christelle Hiver, deputy mayor of Doullens, a city which now cleans and disinfects twice a week.
In Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, the streets streets will also be “disinfected”. Mayor Jean-Pierre Clicq announced it on his Facebook page: “Some would say that it is useless; perhaps they are right; maybe not. A few weeks ago, others said that masks and tests were useless … It is probably impossible today to say the effectiveness of this or that device; on the other hand, it seems to me that the situation deserves to try everything, to do everything to preserve everyone’s health. “
According to What to choose?, there is no scientific justification for carrying out these disinfections: “Les streets and sidewalks, no matter how hard you look, unless you are rolling on the ground, it is difficult to run a risk, except that of encountering a virus carrier. Local elected officials invoke “the precautionary principle”, Que Choisir tends rather to the need to mask its impotence by action. “
Laurent Degallaix, mayor of Valenciennes, does not understand the emerging controversy: “ This is the kind of cleaning that we do all year long, with the same products. All of this is regulated. I took my responsibilities. The precautionary principle led me to say: let’s do it! In France, other cities than Douai are renouncing this cleaning: the city of Nancy, which was also studying this possibility of disinfection, finally renounced it after an unfavorable opinion from the ARS.
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