It must be said at the outset: the government’s decision to impose the wearing of masks in companies from 1is September has everything, a priori, of a strange decision. France is the only country which makes this choice (at least for the moment); we do not understand why the mask is not compulsory in bars, restaurants, schools and universities, which are just as much closed places; and there are about fifty outbreaks of Covid-19 in business out of the 1.7 million in our country… That’s not much!
There are several explanations for this hard line on the part of the public authorities. The first is not the most glorious: after having sinned heavily on the masks in the spring (they were useless because we did not have any), the government no longer wants to be caught out, at the risk of ” do too much ”. The second reason is more understandable. If France had at the beginning one of the heaviest results in terms of the number of deaths reported to the population, its relative situation is improving every day. No question of diving again.
The fear of a new runaway
The third explanation is the most obvious. It is the fear of a new surge in the number of cases that will end up ruining the efforts of the oldest French to protect themselves. Currently, the epidemic has nothing to do with what it was in March, but, at the end of August, are we in February, before the curve took off? With scientists saying one thing and the opposite every day, governing is difficult. These days, the virus’s floating in the air is very likely without being certain …
All of this is true, but the economy should not once again take a back seat. France has already implemented the most drastic containment of all the developed countries, with a strong consequence: a drop in activity among the highest. The state has installed strong shock absorbers, but bankruptcies and job losses are already considerable. Imposing new constraints on businesses will not be without consequences for the way they operate.
To what extent? If the epidemic spreads, wearing the mask will hopefully prevent the return of a lockdown that the economy would struggle to endure this time around – and this mask will come across as a useful stopgap. It should therefore be welcomed. Conversely, if wearing a mask in the streets and in business is only the implementation of an excessive precautionary principle, then the weakening of the economy will have been unnecessary. After all, Germany is doing better without pulling out heavy artillery.
In the short term, the stake is that of the return of millions of employees to their workplace after the holidays. They will be divided between the feeling of security provided by the mask and the discovery that the precautions applied until then in their companies (the distance of 1.50 meters) were not sufficient. There will be strong pressure to amplify teleworking. But the employers do not want to return to 100% spring: they have instead encouraged their teams to come back on site in June.
Seven months after the start of this unprecedented crisis, the public authorities must still keep health and economic concerns in mind. Health has so far been a priority – and so much the better – but it is clear that France would very difficultly recover from a second confinement. The priority is therefore to do everything to avoid it.
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