France reimposes primary school mask mandate nationwide as Covid-19 cases rise

Issued on: 15/11/2021 – 12:53

When classes let out for the weekend, 61 of France’s administrative departments, or fewer than two-thirds, were subject to face mask mandates for elementary schoolchildren. As of Monday, all departments move to the mask-mandatory Level 2 of France’s Covid-19 schools protocol, with the exception of harder-hit French Guiana, which borders Brazil and remains at the protocol’s strictest category, Level 4.

The move to apply the face mask mandate nationwide for the five grades of French elementary schoolchildren marks a policy rollback for France. It was detailed by the education ministry in the wake of President Emmanuel Macron’s televised address to the nation last week announcing new Covid-19 measures.

In late September, the government had announced the end of face masks for children in elementary schools where Covid-19 incidence rates were lowest. In early October, 47 departments shed the masks, with others joining them the following week. By the time schools adjourned nationwide for a two-week All Saints holiday on October 23, a full 79 departments had dropped the mask requirement.

But a significant rise in Covid-19 cases has spurred fresh precautions just as new detected infections in France have topped an average of 10,000 daily.

Returning from holiday last Monday, schoolchildren in dozens of departments who had removed masks in October had to don them once again. Children in a fraction of departments, including Paris, have kept masks on since the school year began on September 2.

Faced with a new pandemic surge, Macron urged seniors to get Covid-19 vaccine booster shots during his televised address to the nation last Tuesday. He announced that over-65s would lose access to France’s health pass on December 15 without the top-up dose.

“The fifth wave has begun in Europe, in the United Kingdom, in Germany, where more than 30,000 new cases are recorded daily,” Macron declared. While the president called the pandemic situation in France “more favourable”, he noted a 40 percent rise in the Covid-19 incidence rate over the previous week.

“Even though I know how difficult it is, mask-wearing will be maintained in schools for the moment,” Macron announced during the speech.

‘Exasperation’

On the ground, the return of face masks for schoolchildren nationwide has been met with a mix of satisfaction and resignation.

“There’s been a degree of inevitability among teachers, a kind of exhaustion or even exasperation with the way the government passes its messages along,” said Stéphane Crochet, secretary general of the SE-Unsa teacher’s union. “On Tuesday, after Macron’s address, no one had really understood that masking had been re-established everywhere,” he added.

For her part, Catherine Nave-Bekhti, secretary general of the Sgen-CFDT union for school personnel, said the new measure seems “reasonable” above all. “It’s satisfying because it’s a coherent precautionary measure against the dynamic of the epidemic,” she said. “The objective is always to close the fewest classes possible and keep the epidemic from getting out of control, at school and elsewhere.”

Guislaine David, secretary general of the Snuipp-FSU, the leading union of primary school personnel, noted that moving all departments to Level 2 of the protocol doesn’t only signify a prudent return to masking, but also means schools now need once again to stop school groups from mixing in school canteens and after-school activities.

“It’s a real puzzle in a lot of schools, particularly for organising recess breaks,” Crochet said.

David also brings up another sticky issue: “Certain families’ acceptance of masks, which in some places is becoming more and more difficult,” she said. “By going back and forth on the protocol, we’re confronted by some parents who are anti-mask.”

The new nationwide mandate in France affects elementary schoolchildren aged roughly six to 11, a segment of the French population that remains unvaccinated. The European Medicines Agency is currently evaluating data for Covid-19 vaccines for the age group with a decision expected on Pfizer’s version sometime in December, after which France’s health authority will provide its own assessment.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)