The government has "certainly not been clear enough" on the subject of protective masks against the coronavirus, recognized Sunday Christophe Castaner while Gérard Collomb denounced the "back and forth" of the government on the issue. For his part, Bruno Retailleau estimated that "'Olivier Véran deceived the French" on the wearing of the mask.
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"There have been changes"
"We have certainly not been clear enough on this subject," said the Interior Minister when interviewed by the Grand Jury on Sunday (RTL / LCI / Le Figaro). His predecessor at Place Beauvau, Gérard Collomb, denounced in the Journal du Dimanche the "round trips" of the executive on this subject. "There is a global shortage of masks. All the countries of the world have been confronted with this (...) this is no longer the case for France today", explained Christophe Castaner. "What we say is what professionals and scientific advice from the health sector say," said the Minister of the Interior.
"At the beginning I heard the World Health Organization, the Academy of Medicine, all the health professionals, explain to us that the wearing of the mask in a systematic way was not necessary", according to him. "Then there were developments. The Academy of Medicine a few weeks ago gave a position which is different from that which was worn at the start of the management of the fight against the Covid and therefore we are adapting" added the Minister.
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"A stock of masks for usual use for 20 weeks"
"France had a stock of masks for its usual use for 20 weeks, but given the global crisis we have known, this stock of masks did not appear sufficient," according to the Minister of the Interior. He then explained that "France and the government have made a choice: that of equipping health personnel as a priority, those who save lives". "We had 1.4 million FFP2 masks, I chose to give them to healthcare professionals because it was the priority," he said.
"The government has been caught off guard. There have been back and forth which afterwards have hurt very much", according to Gérard Collomb while the president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), François Baroin (LR) , calls for "a stable framework" that "allows for making" a decision. Jean-Luc Mélenchon also denounced to the National Assembly "orders and contrordres (which) have followed one another", in particular on the wearing of the mask.
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For Bruno Retailleau, "Olivier Véran has deceived the French"
Guest of the "Grand Rendez-vous" of Europe 1 this Sunday, Bruno Retailleau for his part judged that Olivier Véran had "deceived the French" on wearing a mask. "We just justified that we did not have masks and that we had been out of planning for stocks," said the leader of the Senators LR. "We also cannot hide behind so-called scientific opinions which have evolved, I am sorry! Besides, when you take two scientific opinions, they are often different", he concluded.