new recommendations to protect against the virus and its variants

THE ESSENTIAL

• The recommended physical distancing is not 2 meters.
• The National Academy of Medicine recommends being silent in transport.

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While the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 in France is in full swing and the establishment of a third confinement looming more and more, the new variants represent 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 countries in Europe, 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.

Thursday, January 21, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran followed the advice of the High Council for Public Health and recommended that the French prefer wearing a surgical mask or category 1 fabric.

Avoid talking or calling on public transport

In addition, there are new recommendations, including those to establish a distance of two meters (and not 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. In fact, the new variant, like SARS-CoV2, is thought to be transmitted by speech.

“The compulsory wearing of a mask in public transport, where physical distancing cannot be respected, must be accompanied by a very simple precaution: avoid talking and making phone calls“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 succeeded in familiarizing themselves risks creating incomprehension and reviving doubts about the validity of the official recommendations..”

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