Covid: return of the mask, new variant, 4th dose: details from Olivier Véran this Thursday

This Thursday, May 12, Olivier Véran was the guest of Apolline de Malherbe on RMC. He notably provided details concerning the end of the wearing of the compulsory mask in transport on May 16. We recap. The mask, soon a distant memory? This Wednesday, May 11, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced the end of the obligation to wear a mask in public transport. If it is no longer “compulsory” from May 16, it will still continue to be “recommended” for “fragile people”, assures Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, Wednesday May 11 on franceinfo. This Thursday, May 12, Olivier Véran provided some details. Do not shout “victory” too soon Indeed this Thursday, the Minister of Health did not rule out the possibility that the mask would make its return to France: “We put braking measures when necessary”, a- he declared. “I don’t wish it, but that [le retour du masque] can happen”, in particular if new variants appear in the fall, as could have been anticipated by Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the Scientific Council, alerted: “We will have a return of a variant of this virus in the fall . In a certain form of indifference, since December 15, 2021, we have had 24,000 deaths in France”. this 4th dose would be intended only for fragile people or if the latter would be extended to the entire population. Same observation for Jacques Reynes, infectiologist and head of the Infectious Diseases Department of the Montpellier University Hospital. the shelter that the epidemic resumes with a vengeance, “in September or October”, he notes with our colleagues from 20 Minutes . “Especially since variants emerge. As long as the epidemic is not at zero, the risk is not zero”. Towards a reintegration of non-vaccinated caregivers? This question raises ethical and health problems, recalls Olivier Véran. The Minister of Health indicates that he wants to seize the High Authority of Health on the subject. “We are still at 40,000 contaminations per day,” he argues. A figure still too large to leave unvaccinated caregivers in contact with fragile people, especially in nursing homes, according to the minister. For his part, epidemiologist Mircea Sofonea regrets on BFMTV that the principle of “sanitary solidarity” has not been put forward by the government, in particular vis-à-vis immunocompromised people and calls for the wearing of a mask “on measure”. Mircea Sofonea is also worried about the evolution of the epidemic in the coming months, when an outbreak of cases in South Africa raises the specter of a new wave.