While the mask falls at school, respect for barrier gestures by adults is also declining. This induces a return of seasonal infections.
The coronavirus epidemic had put an end to a very French habit of saying hello: the kiss. But with the vaccination, the health pass and the easing of health restrictions, the wind has returned in force in the daily life of the French and it testifies to a real problem: the abandonment of barrier gestures, which make it possible to limit the spread of the Covid. -19. According to a Ifop poll published this Friday, October 15, 65% of French people kiss their relatives, friends and colleagues. This remains below the pre-Covid figures (91%) but well above the good habits applied until last spring (39%).
The kiss is certainly not a Franco-French habit. Italians, Spaniards and even the British also use it to greet each other. But its comeback in France in recent months proves that the French are among the worst students in terms of the application of barrier gestures.
Less than one in two French people wash their hands before going to the table
In addition to contactless greetings, the French also abandon other hygiene measures that had become basic since the first confinement. Thus, only 48% of French people systematically wash their hands before going to dinner (compared to 60% for the European average), 76% think about it after going to the toilet (compared to 86% for Germans for example) and only 27% after blowing your nose.
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In France, while in schools children are taught to sneeze or cough into their elbows, adults really do not set a good example. Just over half (53%) think about covering their nose and mouth with their arm when coughing. The European average is 61%.
These elements are reflected in the Covid figures but also in the progression of other seasonal infections, from which we have rather been spared since March 2020: colds, gastric infections and bronchiolitis are back.
Ifop study for XLoveCam carried out by self-administered online questionnaire from July 7 to 8, 2021 among 5,039 people aged 18 and over, made up of a representative sample of the Italian, Spanish, French, German and British populations.
Article written in collaboration with 6Medias