Face masks to be made compulsory in all shared, indoor French workplaces as coronavirus cases spike

People wearing face masks in Paris
REUTERS
Kit Heren18 August 2020

French workers will have to wear face masks in all shared indoor workplaces from September 1, as the country suffers from a resurgence in coronavirus cases.

The French government announced the move on Tuesday after new daily Covid-19 infections topped 3,000 at the weekend.

The country has one of the highest infection rates in Europe and the number of patients in intensive care units, hospitals and care homes is also creeping up. The UK imposed a 14-day quarantine on travellers coming from the country last week.

The new rule means that people have to wear masks in all shared, enclosed work spaces, including open-plan offices, corridors, meeting rooms and changing rooms. Masks can only be removed when someone is alone in an individual office.

A woman near the Eiffel Tower in Paris 
REUTERS

Laurent Pietraszewski, secretary of state for worker health, said: "The latest scientific knowledge about the possible risk of transmission of the virus via aerosols leads us to adopt a general principle of the systematic wearing of masks in indoor, shared workspaces."

The rule, which makes France among the first countries to order people to wear masks in all indoor workplaces, aims to allow people to carry on going to work while limiting the spread of the virus, although the government still recommends that people work from home if they can.

France's labour minister Elisabeth Borne said the new measure is needed to ensure "the protection of workers' health and the continuity of our economic activity."

About a quarter of the 1,013 coronavirus clusters that have sprung up since the country emerged from lockdown in May have been traced to workplaces, France's national health agency has reported.

France takes its first steps out of Coronavirus lockdown

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Trades unions have complained about a lack of virus protection for workers, with Amazon and Louvre employees staging walkouts in protest.

Details of how to enforce the rules are to be worked out by September 1, with many workers on holiday in August.

Employers are reportedly concerned about how to keep workers in line, especially in jobs that require a lot of communication or that involve heavy manual labour.

Like many countries, France has seen some anti-mask protests this summer, with coverings already mandatory in many public places.

France has suffered around 30,000 deaths related to coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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