From 8 am Monday, there is no longer any question of walking around with your mouth and nose uncovered in the busiest areas of the capital. In accordance with the wishes of Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the recommendations of the health authorities, the Paris police headquarters announced this Saturday that it had issued an order making the wearing of a mask compulsory (for those over 11 years old) in a hundred streets, quays , open places or markets in Paris. Objective: limit the resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic.
All the low quays of the banks of the Seine are concerned, but also many tourist, festive or commercial places: the surroundings of the Sacré-Coeur (18th century), the Saint-Martin canal (10th century) and the Bassin de la Villette (19th century) , Bercy Village (12th century), the forecourt of the BNF (13th century) or the flea market (18th century). In addition to the capital, the protective mask will also be compulsory in several “high traffic” sectors of Seine-Saint-Denis, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne and Val-d'Oise.
"A hundred sites in Paris is a lot, but it is necessary," assures Nicolas Nordman, Anne Hidalgo's assistant in charge of security. The virus is circulating again in the capital and everything must be done to avoid a second wave in the fall ”. The rate of positive tests now reaches 2.4% in Ile-de-France against 1.6% on the national average and "the incidence is particularly high among 20-30 year olds" recalls the police headquarters.
The list of sectors concerned will evolve according to their attendance and the evolution of the epidemic. "The idea is to be as responsive as possible" continues the elected. In the first fifteen days, the police and the agents of the city will do pedagogy with the offenders. But from August 24, the fines of 135 € will fall.
“It's a call to individual responsibility: we want people to once again acquire the reflex of barrier gestures. Because there has undoubtedly been a relaxation ”explains Nicolas Nordman.
A message that passes rather well among the walkers of the lower quays of the Seine crossed this Saturday, at the end of the afternoon, while the thermometer displays 37 degrees. “It's a useful measure, greets Guillaume, 30, a Toulouse resident passing through Paris who wears a mask… on his arm. We can see that the epidemic is starting again: prevention is better than cure ”. Véronique, a 60-year-old Parisian, has already anticipated the obligation that she applauds: “There was a lot of carelessness. Some clearly don't care.
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Esther, 43, self-employed, will adopt the mask "but it's going to be hell to wear it in 40 degrees" she predicts. Ludmilla, 37, who came from Yvelines with her three children, finally believes that this measure of obligation should have been taken much earlier, at the beginning of the summer "We are in the middle of August and the city is is emptied of its inhabitants. Look, there's hardly anyone on the docks. Parisians today are more in the South or on the Atlantic coast ”.