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Wearing a mask in the street: is it useful?

Since this morning, it has become mandatory to wear a mask outdoors in certain streets of Paris – as is already the case in other cities in France. This decision follows an increase in the number of cases but also a more precise knowledge of the behavior of the COVID-19 virus.

Credits: JC Cards / Pixabay.

From today, the wearing a mask has become compulsory outside in certain streets of Paris. The French capital thus succeeds Toulouse, Nice, La Rochelle and Lille, in this area, by virtue of an increase in the rate of contamination from COVID-19 in Île-de-France. In one communicated, the City of Paris indicates that “Nearly 400 people test positive for COVID-19 every day”, stating that “The rate of positive tests now stands at 2.4% in Ile-de-France against 1.6% on the national average. “ Since 8 a.m. this morning of August 10, and this (at least) for a period of one month, all people aged 11 and over will have to wear a mask in busy streets (listed on a map below ) as well as in public markets, flea markets and garage sales, certain shopping streets, pedestrianized areas, roads and banks. “Failure to comply with this obligation in the areas concerned will be punishable by a fine of 135 €”, warns the municipality.

In blue, all the streets of the city affected by the new obligation to wear a mask outdoors (Screenshot / Credits: City of Paris).

“Fight against the heat wave and wear a mask to fight against the disease”

According to the statements of the virologist and member of the Scientific Council, Bruno Lina, interviewed by the newspaper The cross, a narrow street where the population is dense and the non-existent wind can become the equivalent of a confined space. As a reminder, it is in this context that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is transmitted the most and where the wearing of a mask remains imperative, so as not to possibly spread it without knowing it. Indeed, according to a letter written to the World Health Organization (WHO) last July by a team of more than 200 researchers from around 30 countries, the virus would be much better airborne than previously thought. Its viral particles can survive as well in large liquid droplets, falling to the ground after a sneeze or a coughing fit, as in smaller and light ones, able to stay suspended for a few moments in the air. COVID-19 can be contracted simply after addressing the words to a patient without a mask. In addition, in this period of summer heatwave where the impression of suffocation and suffocation is permanent, Isabelle Bonmarin, head of the infection and environmental risk prevention unit at Public Health France, underlined previously the need to “To convince people both to fight against the heat wave and to wear the mask to fight against the disease. “

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