France intends to implement an extension of the health permit and vaccination obligation for caregivers, two contested measures announced by Emmanuel Macron last Monday in an effort to halt the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic as the delta-changing coronavirus spreads, the government spokesman said. Gabriel Attal announced on Monday evening.

“We have entered the fourth wave” and “we must do everything possible so that this wave is not more destructive,” said Gabriel Attal of the Cabinet, while “vaccination coverage is still insufficient” in France.

In this context, the draft law on “adapting our tools to manage the health crisis” adopted by the Council of Ministers “provides for the expansion of the scope of the health permit” and embodies the strategy of tightening health restrictions approved by the Council of Ministers. The head of state is relaunching the Covid-19 vaccination in the face of accelerating spread of the delta variant, which is particularly contagious and is now responsible for 80% of new infections.

The mask comes thanks to the sanitary lane

As Emmanuel Macron announced last Monday, the health permit, which is already required since June 9 to access large gatherings or since July 9 to go to nightclubs, will be extended from “This Wednesday” to recreational activities gathering more than 50 people as well as bars, restaurants and “Certain shopping malls” at the beginning of August. Employees of these organizations will not be subject to this obligation until August 30 and a “running period” will apply to support the respective organizations.

On the other hand, in places where it will be applied, the wearing of a mask will no longer be mandatory for the public, unless the local epidemic situation requires it, Health Minister Olivier Veran told RTL on Tuesday 20 July 20. When the health card goes into effect, he said, “you will no longer have an obligation to wear a mask ‘in these places’, except for governors’ orders in departments depending on the state of the pandemic.”

However, unlike the public that accesses it, employees who work in these places will have to maintain a mask for the time being, the Labor Department said. “Le port du masque reste la règle en entreprise. Le pass étant obligatoire à partir du 30 août pour les salariés (des lieux soumis au pass), il n’est pas envisagé pour le moment de le supprimer pour ces salariés”, an indiqué Ministry.

Read alsoHealth pass: government continues and anticipates

“Temporary” measures

Another measure included in this Act is the mandatory vaccination of “all employees who are in regular contact with vulnerable groups” – caregivers, employees in the health or medical – social sector, firefighters and ambulance workers, employees working in the homes of the elderly or vulnerable people – All of them will have to “double vaccinate” by September 15, Gabriel Attal said.

This text also plans to extend the mandatory 10-day isolation to all people who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 – accompanied by police checks and fines of up to 1,000 euros – which was already in place for travelers coming from the countries where it is located. The epidemic situation is not controlled.

To remove any obstacles to vaccination, this law formalizes the possibility for employees (public and private) to be vaccinated without losing pay during their working hours thanks to a “leave of absence”, announced by the Minister of Health earlier this month. . Gabriel Attal stressed that “this law promotes the implementation of several measures that have been proven to contain the virus,” which will remain “temporary” in order to promote “universal vaccination.”

This text provides for an extension until the end of the year of the transitional regime to end the health crisis that began on June 2 in mainland France, and which was supposed to end on September 30. The state of health emergency will be extended until September 30 in Martinique and Reunion. The bill must be studied Tuesday in a committee in the National Assembly, and then Wednesday in a session, before it is passed on Thursday before the Senate, which is dominated by the right, with a view to its final adoption by the end of the week, before the end of the extraordinary meeting. Parliament session in July.

Parliamentary challenge on the horizon

But the opposition to this project, which has already appeared on the streets of several cities in France last Wednesday and Saturday, with the mobilization of tens of thousands of demonstrators, should be heard in Parliament. The Republican and Center groups in the Senate, which have a majority in the Senate, announced last week their intention to take over the Constitutional Council after the bill was passed.

According to the Directorate General of Health, about 45% of the total French population is now vaccinated against Covid-19. At this level, collective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive, especially since the weekly infection rate (sliding week) has continued to increase almost uninterruptedly since it reached a low point of 19 new contaminations per 100,000 population. In the week. Arrived at the end of June. It is now 86 points, an increase of nearly 125% in one week, according to Gabriel Attal.

The number of new infections detected doubled in one week. According to Public Health France (SPF), it reached 4,151 in the past 24 hours, having crossed the 10,000 threshold in the previous three days, a level not seen since the end of May.

(with Reuters and AFP)