It was a decision that was particularly awaited for the inhabitants of the Bas-Rhin and the Rhône.
On Sunday, the Council of State examined the State's request to annul decisions by administrative courts of Strasbourg and Lyon which asked to relax the general obligation to wear a mask in certain territories.
In its order issued in the evening, the highest administrative court approves, in large part, the state's request, by validating the wearing of the compulsory mask in these localities, but with some conditions.
In detail, for Alsace, "the summary judge considers that, in certain less densely populated municipalities and whose city center is easy to define, the wearing of a mask cannot be imposed on the whole of the territory", specifies the instance in a press release.
“Regarding the Rhône, the summary judge validates the obligation to wear a mask throughout the territory of Lyon and Villeurbanne.
On the other hand, the prefect must provide for an exemption for physical or sporting activities ”, we can read in the same press release.
Administrative justice ordered the Bas-Rhin prefecture on Thursday and the Rhône prefecture on Friday to issue a new decree, excluding places that are not characterized "by a high population density" or "local circumstances likely to promote the spread ”of the coronavirus.
An appeal from the Minister of Health
The two courts, seized by two Alsatian hospital practitioners and by the Lyon association "Les Essentialistes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes", also asked the two prefectures to lift the obligation to wear a mask in "the hourly periods during which no risk particular spread of this virus does not exist ”.
The prefect of the Rhône and the prefect of Bas-Rhin had taken note of the judicial decisions and indicated that they wanted to modify the prefectural decrees before the deadlines set by the courts: Monday at 12 noon for Strasbourg, Tuesday at 12 noon for Lyon.
But the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, appealed.
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During a hearing on Sunday morning before the Council of State, Charles Touboul, director of legal affairs at the Ministry of Health, said that faced with an increase in the viral circulation "exponential", according to the most recent point of situation of Public Health France, the government wants "a standard intelligible and understandable for all" while being limited to densely populated areas.
"The question is the efficiency of the mask on the outside"
A device that would create exemptions by streets or time slots would send "a very strong negative message" to the population "as to the need to wear a mask, according to him.
This senior official was also concerned about an "anti-mask dimension" of the attacks against these prefectural decrees.
"We can not let circulate this little music that we hear and which weakens the entire strategy to fight against the epidemic", he insisted.
The lawyer for Alsatian hospital practitioners and the Lyon association, Me Régis Froger, replied that his clients "do not in themselves contest the wearing of masks" and are not "conspirators".
"The question is the efficiency of the mask outside, which is much less imperative than in an enclosed environment," he stressed.
For him, “the central question of the dispute is:
must we necessarily encompass the entire territory at all times of the day?
"
.
And to conclude: “There is a happy medium to be found.
"