INTERVIEW
Edouard Philippe presented Tuesday the government's deconfinement plan in the context of the coronavirus epidemic. The Prime Minister notably announced that France was able to supply nearly 100 million surgical masks each week and that an e-commerce platform would be set up from April 30 to distribute them to the general public.
Guest of Europe 1 Wednesday, Professor Gilbert Deray, head of the nephrology department at the Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris, worried about the paid distribution of masks and the respect of the standards of artisanal models. "We want quality masks, made by people trained for this, and that they be distributed!", He asks.
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"If these masks are essential, it makes sense that we give them to everyone"
"[A second wave] is not inevitable," says Professor Gilbert Deray, who judges that the main lines of the deconfinement plan are the right ones. However, he shared his concerns about the population's access to masks, a necessary condition in order to guard against any resurgence of the epidemic.
"If you consider these masks to be essential, and they are, it makes sense to give them to everyone." The possibility that families are forced to spend up to 50 euros per month to equip themselves with masks is, according to him, untenable. "We know that families will not be able to [afford it]!"
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Concern about compliance with standards
Handicraft masks are another concern, he says. If he praises the voluntary work of hundreds of seamstresses "across the country" to make masks in improvised workshops, the professor points out the risk that the production does not meet certain safety standards. "So-called 'home' masks still have standards: three layers of cotton, a seam that should not be in the middle," he says before adding: "if these masks are not of high quality, they're going to be ineffective and this is going to be an absolute drama. "
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Faced with these two challenges, Professor Gilbert Deray calls on the government to launch an "industrial manufacturing of quality masks" and to distribute them free of charge.