Why children and not adults? This Monday, thousands of students will once again smell the odors of chalk, blanco, and stabilo tickle their nostrils. In 47 French departments where the incidence rate of Covid-19 is below the threshold of 50 per 100,000 inhabitants over a period of five days, schoolchildren are no longer obliged to wear a mask in progress since Monday. A little pleasure that their teachers will not taste, however, not concerned by
government measure, just like all the adults in these famous departments. How to explain such a difference in treatment between children and adults? 20 minutes make the point.
What does the law say about wearing a mask in business?
If the health protocol in companies was updated last August 31 by the Ministry of Labor, wearing a mask “remains the rule in the company, especially in closed collective places”, indicates government site. On the other hand, “the employees do not have to wear the mask when they are alone in their office”, specifies the ministry. The mask can also be lowered in workshops provided that the room is ventilated or that there is a limited number of people separated between them by two meters apart. Finally, employees working in establishments open to the public and having a valid health pass are no longer required to wear a mask. The piece of fabric is therefore mainly intended for employees working in open space offices.
Are there the same risks of the virus spreading in a classroom and in an office?
At first glance, both are confined spaces in which people are nearby all day (when it comes to shared offices). The transmission conditions seem identical. However, according to a study by the Institut Pasteur published last March, if “work in shared offices” is one of the places where the risk of transmission of the virus is the highest, “having a child in primary school has not until now been associated with increased risk. infection for adults living in the same household ”. “Today there is not enough data, evidence and consensus to justify making children over six years old wear a mask all day,” adds Alice Desbiolles, public health doctor and epidemiologist , interviewed by 20 minutes.
On the other hand, it is not only the places that count in the spread of the virus, recalls the expert. “Today we know the audiences likely to develop a serious form of Covid-19 and children are overwhelmingly not part of it. On the other hand, there may be employees at risk in companies for whom it is necessary that their employers and colleagues pay extra attention to protect them. “
Is the health protocol at school more rigorous than that in companies?
In the national protocol to ensure the safety of employees in the company, the Ministry of Labor stipulates that “the employer must take all the organizational measures necessary to limit the risk of crowds, crossings (flow of people) and concentration (density) of staff”. This version, dated September 10, also marks the end of compulsory teleworking and offers a special device for the most vulnerable employees. A strict protocol, but compliance with which is the employer’s responsibility and varies from company to company.
A major difference with the school health protocol which requires an entire class to be closed as soon as a case of Covid-19 is identified. A strict measure which led to the closure of nearly 3,300 classes in mid-September before a gradual decline in recent days. On the recommendation of the Scientific Council, a new protocol will be tested in several schools to isolate only students who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
What does the Scientific Council say about lifting masks?
If it has not yet recently expressed itself on the obligation to wear a mask in business, there is little chance that the Scientific Council will be in favor of lifting the measure since it was not. more for school children. In its opinion issued on September 13, 2021 and entitled “Back to school challenges”, the experts write in fact that “the progress of vaccination cannot justify less vigilance on barrier gestures (mask, ventilation, hand hygiene) and non-pharmaceutical measures (screening, isolation)”. They also specify that these preventive measures “are all the more important in minors, whether in 12-17 year-olds still insufficiently vaccinated, or, a fortiori, in unvaccinated 12-year-olds”.
Is the impact of the mask the same on children and adults?
If the wearing of a mask for children is not unanimous, however, it is because it could have an impact on learning, understanding and concentration. “The French Pediatric Society insists on the painfulness of this measure for children and pleads for the removal of the mask from primary school children, insofar as the epidemic situation allows”, reports Alice Desbiolles. Same observation on the ground. “With the mask, we have the impression that we get along less well and suddenly I had to have them rehearse quite often,” says Isabelle Perrin, teacher of CP in a school in the Landes.
Office workers do not a priori encounter similar difficulties, but wearing a mask remains painful for them. According to a survey carried out by Ipsos-Sopra Steria for the Parisian-Today in France, 74% of employees would like their company to allow them to remove the mask indoors. In this regard, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently pointed out the risk of pandemic weariness and fatigue. “When the measures are too restrictive, the populations end up saturating and abandoning certain rules”, explains Alice Desbiolles. WHO has invited States to put in place more sustainable measures in the medium and long term.
“The government could therefore question the proportionality of the measures which should rather apply on a case-by-case basis, depending on the place, the person, the territory,” underlines the doctor in public health. One can for example wonder if good ventilation of the premises when the conditions are right would not be as effective and less painful. For her, priority can also be placed on the adaptation of the workstations and working conditions of people considered vulnerable to Sars-CoV-2.