Crackdown: France Bringing Back Compulsory Outdoor Masks

Oliver JJ LaneDecember 28, 2021

The French government has announced the new coronavirus regulations for the coming weeks including New Year’s Eve, with work from home orders, restrictions on eating in public, and, most remarkably, compulsory mask-wearing on city streets.

Speaking to the nation after a meeting of the government’s Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Jean Castex, of President Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! (LREM) party, announced that masks will be enforced outdoors.

Remarking that the measure would be enforced by prefects and mayors, Castex told France: “The mask obligation, already applicable everywhere indoors, will be extended and respected, especially in all city centres”.

In another extreme move, France will ban “the consumption of drinks and food” on public transport, including long-distance trains, Castex said in comments reported by Le Figaro.

This is not the first time France has mandated masks in the streets. Outdoor masking was compulsory in France last winter and the restriction lasted until early summer, amid domestic criticism and claims from the more liberty-minded of the nation’s media that there was little evidence that outdoor masking actually stopped the spread of the China coronavirus.

It was claimed there is limited evidence for outdoor transmission of the virus, similar to headlines in the United Kingdom earlier this year which suggested that people going to the beach was not linked to new coronavirus cases.

European Countries Bring Back Mandatory Outdoor Mask Wearing As Covid Cases Surgehttps://t.co/Ei1RpMntZl

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 24, 2021

Nevertheless, the French government believes there is enough cause to bring back outdoor masking and in doing so joins a host of other European nations that have done so recently. As Breitbart London has reported, Spain was among the latest last week to introduce outdoor masks, with socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez saying: “It’s important at a time of big crowds to put into place the obligatory use of masks.”

In Spain, as in France, some have questioned the utility of outdoor masking.

Several Italian areas including the capital city of Rome also enforce an outdoor mask mandate, with Lazio region president Nicola Zingaretti claiming: “This is a precautionary but essential measure for the protection of our health and that of our loved ones at a time like this. This time as well we are keeping our guard up staying ahead of the virus.”

As reported, the order “compels wearing a personal protective mask in all outdoor places and at all hours, regardless of one’s vaccination status, proof of recovery from the virus, or negative testing.”

Greece’s mask mandates are, in some respects, even more extreme. The country has mandated outdoor masks, but going a step further requires people using public transport or going to the shops to double mask or wear a certified N95 grade mask, reports claim.