Tatiana Geiselmann and Manon Fossat 2:09 p.m., February 27, 2022

Restrictions linked to Covid-19 are eased on Monday in public places subject to the vaccination pass.

This is particularly the case in cinemas, where the mask will no longer be compulsory.

In Strasbourg, if the managers of these establishments are delighted with this relaxation, others believe that this decision is premature and purely political.

From Monday, the rules on Covid-19 are relaxed in public places, such as bars, theaters and cinemas.

If the vaccination pass remains compulsory, the mask will no longer be.

In Strasbourg, managers and customers of dark rooms are preparing for this easing of restrictions.

Spectators are eager to drop the mask during the screening.

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No more mandatory masks in cinemas

For the moment, when you arrive in front of the doors of the Star cinema, you are greeted by two A4 format posters: “Wearing a mask compulsory throughout the duration of the sessions”.

They were posted last November, following government instructions.

But in a few hours, Clément, the cashier, will be able to withdraw them.

"We have them in front of all the theaters and there are also the messages broadcast before the films that we have to remove", explains the young man.

According to him, "many spectators are impatiently waiting for the masks to be removed".

This is the case of Jocelin, 19 years old.

Like six out of ten French people, he had not returned to the cinema since the start of the pandemic, because he does not support wearing a mask quite badly.

“Staying two hours with a mask, in a room where it is often super hot, is a bit complicated”, sighs the Strasbourg resident, who intends to go back to see films a little more often with the lifting of restrictions.

Ticket sales down 25%

In any case, this would be a good thing for cinemas, because they are recording an average drop of 25% in attendance, compared to before the health crisis.

But Julie, in charge of cash for the second Star cinema in Strasbourg, does not believe it too much.

"I think it's going to be done over time, because there are still a lot of people who have changed their habits," she explains, "it's going to be a long-term job".

If we rely on the Harris Interactive survey unveiled last October, the prospects are indeed not very reassuring, since a third of French people believe that they will now go to the cinema less often than before the pandemic. 

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"A political decision"

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, Dominique Costagliola, epidemiologist and member of the Academy of Sciences, estimated that it is too early for this lifting of the wearing of masks in the cinema.

"In a room where there are 50 people, the probability that out of these 50 people there is at least one positive is 40%. Out of 100 people, it would be 64%", she detailed.

According to her, if the incidence was less than 50, the measure would be “acceptable”.

"It's still too early. The lifting of the wearing of the mask should be based on the incidence and not on whether or not the place is subject to the vaccination pass because it does not completely protect against infection."

For the epidemiologist, this decision is above all political.

"We have seen its calendar conjunction with the presidential election [...] Basically the message that we send to vulnerable people is 'self-isolate because we are no longer going to take measures for you protect. And that doesn't seem like a good public health measure to me."