Not enough surgical masks before the Covid-19 epidemic. “The State has committed a fault by refraining from constituting a sufficient stock of masks to fight against a pandemic linked to a highly pathogenic respiratory agent”, estimated Tuesday the administrative court of Paris. The court also found that the state had committed a fault by making “statements which may have had the effect, in particular, of dissuading the population from using masks”.
In the first months of the pandemic, at the start of 2020, vagueness reigned over the interest in wearing surgical masks to protect against Covid-19 or avoid spreading it. At the time, the government favored the idea of reserving masks for caregivers directly exposed to patients, in a context of insufficient stocks. With a state stock of around 100 million units, France quickly found itself destitute, sometimes leaving health professionals and other exposed trades, such as supermarket cashiers, helpless.
No link with the contaminations of the complainants
Critics have also targeted the government’s fluctuating communication on the subject. From useless for the general public, the mask finally became compulsory in closed places in July 2020 and became widespread everywhere at the end of the summer. Around thirty plaintiffs had therefore taken the State to court, judging that this attitude had directly contributed to the fact that they caught the Covid.
But if he recognizes that the State has faulted in its management of the masks, the court judges that a direct link cannot be established with the contaminations of the complainants. Justice underlines three points: the “random” nature of the transmission of the virus, the observation that a mask does not protect against Covid-19 and, finally, the fact that the State has taken time of other measures likely to limit contamination such as the encouragement to maintain physical distances. It therefore rejects the plaintiffs’ claims for compensation.