After being suspended by the courts on Thursday evening, the obligation to wear a mask outdoors in Paris remains applicable in many particularly busy places, where respect for barrier gestures is not guaranteed, announced the prefecture on Monday.
The new decree of the Paris police headquarters concerns:
- markets, flea markets, garage sales, unpacking sales
- gatherings, demonstrations, meetings or activities bringing together 10 or more people, organized on the public highway, whatever their purpose
- public transport waiting areas, in particular bus and tram stops and their immediate vicinity
- around train stations and shopping center entrances, during their opening hours
- the surroundings of schools or universities, when the public enters and leaves
- the surroundings of places of worship, when the public enters and leaves during offices and ceremonies
- the queues that form in the public space.
This obligation to wear a mask “takes effect immediately”, indicates the police headquarters to Parisian.
“An extremely high incidence rate”
“The current epidemic situation, with an extremely high incidence rate and a still very strong pressure on hospitalization, requires that measures be taken so that the outdoor space, however limited the risks, is not a place of contamination”, justifies the prefecture in a press release.
Similar decrees have been taken in all the departments of Ile-de-France, and checks by the police will be carried out accordingly, adds the prefecture.
Thursday, the administrative court of Paris had suspended the prefectural decree making it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in Paris since December 31. This decision came the day after that of the Administrative Court of Versailles, which had suspended a similar decree, a first on national territory, considering that the measure carried “an excessive, disproportionate and inappropriate attack (…) on the freedom individual”.