As the rumor swells, so do concerns: if, as the experts encourage, wearing a mask becomes mandatory in France to protect against Covid-19, where will we find them, these masks? Have we not been talking for months about an inextinguishable shortage?
→ LIVE. Coronavirus: the latest news in France and around the world on April 10
First, a distinction is necessary between surgical masks – duck type, FFP2, FFP3 – and alternative fabric masks, known as “general public”. The first, the most effective, are exclusively reserved for healthcare professionals. They have been requisitioned by the state since the start of the crisis and their sale and storage are illegal. In early April, the Paris prosecutor’s office also reported about fifteen investigations opened for the possession or resale of surgical masks.
→ READ. Are we all going to have to wear a mask?
The masks intended for ordinary citizens, which mayors wish to make compulsory, are alternative protections, with reduced effectiveness but which remain useful. It is possible to obtain it by various means.
In cities that distribute it
The inhabitants of Paris, Nice, Bordeaux, Cannes or the department of Mayenne are among the luckiest. Indeed, these cities are preparing to order and distribute free of charge alternative masks to their fellow citizens. Anne Hidalgo has promised 2 million to Parisians, made by around thirty local companies.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, for his part, has placed an order with three French suppliers to distribute some 800,000 masks to the people of Nice, in some fifty municipal sites. A home delivery system will be provided for people who are isolated or who cannot travel themselves. And from Friday April 10, a local manufacture, supervised in particular by the couturiers and costume designers of the Opéra de Nice, will open, with the ambition of producing 10,000 pieces per week.
Inspired by the Nice initiative, the agglomeration of Bordeaux has announced an upcoming delivery of 800,000 masks, which can be collected from a relay point or delivered to the homes of the most vulnerable. Cannes also sided with a local manufacture, without specifying production figures, when Mayenne spent one million euros on an order for 300,000 reusable masks, which could be distributed from May.
But the fabric mask market also quickly saw its share of opportunists. On social networks, companies offer for sale fabric masks, often stylized and accompanied by the promise of effectiveness. Beware, however, of scams and delivery failures.
In shops that sell it
The Order of Pharmacists, as well as the two majority unions in the profession, asked the government to allow them to sell masks to the general public on Tuesday, April 7. Pharmacists have therefore demanded that fabric masks be included in the list of individual protections that can be marketed in pharmacies. The unions said they were in favor of price controls.
For individuals who sew it
The simplest and cheapest method, however, is still homemade. For sewing enthusiasts, who have sufficient material, the French Association for Standardization (Afnor) has published very detailed specifications, as well as mask patterns, to achieve the most optimal possible protection yourself.
→ PRACTICAL. Coronavirus: how to make your mask?
And for needle phobics, solidarity initiatives remain, which continue to emerge in number, and offer donations, from individuals to individuals.
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