Return of the mask mandatory outdoors: which departments are affected and from when?

Faced with the surge in Covid-19 cases, many departments are once again requiring the wearing of masks outdoors. Here are those who are affected by the return of this measure.

Almost two years since the Covid-19 settled in France. Several variants of the coronavirus have affected the population, and recently Omicron is worrying the authorities. Less dangerous but more contagious than the others, contaminations are soaring to heights never reached since the start of the pandemic. On Wednesday, December 29, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced that “208,000 French people have been diagnosed positive for Covid in the last 24 hours“. And as New Year’s Eve approaches and the school holidays are drawing to a close, the government of Jean Castex is forced to make new decisions, including the introduction of the vaccine pass by January 15 2022.

Wearing a mask becomes compulsory in Paris again

Long mandatory in the streets of the capital, the mask had almost disappeared outdoors since June 17, 2021. But the incidence rate today exceeds 2,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Paris. Faced with this “tidal wave” of positive cases, the police headquarters declares that the outdoor mask will again be required from December 31 “.on public roads and in places open to the public in Paris, excluding Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes“. Regular and reinforced checks will be carried out to ensure that this obligation is respected and any offender will be fined 135 euros. On the other side of the Paris ring road, the mask is also required outside from December 31. long after the announcement of the prefect of the capital, neighboring departments made the same decision. Val-de-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, Hauts-de-Seine have followed suit. In Essonne, the return of the mask imposed outside only concerns “agglomerations“. In Yvelines, the measure, already in place, only concerns “town centers and town centers“.

What other departments are affected?

Other departments did not wait for the stop taken by the capital to take new measures. Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, Orne, Eure, Eure- et-Loir, Val-d’Oise, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, North, Aisne, Ardennes, Meuse, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin , the Territoire de Belfort, the Loire, the Rhône, the Isère, the Haute-Savoie, the Landes, the Tarn, the Hérault, the Bouches-du-Rhône, the Var, the Alpes-Maritimes, the Pyrénées-Orientales and Ariège made this decision several weeks ago. AT Saint Malo, the wearing of the mask is de rigueur outside from Friday evening 6 p.m. to Sunday evening midnight at least until January 10, 2022 in the intramural as well as on the ramparts, indicated the prefect in the decree of 20 December. In Savoie, with the arrival of tourists coming to enjoy the ski slopes, the department has announced the return of the compulsory mask from 9 a.m. to midnight in Chambéry, Aix-les-Bains and Albertville. Ski resorts are also affected by this measure such as La Pagne, Courchevel, Les Saisies, Les Ménuires and Tignes.