Emmanuel Macron arrived around 11:30 am on Tuesday near Angers. He visits the Kolmi Hopen factory, an SME producing masks which, due to the coronavirus health crisis, now operates 24 hours a day. The President of the Republic is in the middle of the production lines, meeting the employees. All those present are protected: masks, charlottes, overshoes and blouses. To keep pace, the SME hired 35 fixed-term contracts. Here, 270,000 FFP2 masks and 450,000 surgical masks are produced every day.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Tuesday March 31
Production still too low
For the Elysee Palace, this visit aims to "show the exceptional mobilization of our industry to meet the needs related to the Covid-19 crisis", according to the official communication.
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Paid leave, RTT, sick leave: what changes the state of health emergency
> What do we know about chloroquine, the treatment that is debating?
> What to do if you are sick, but not coronavirus?
> Why you will have to be patient to be reimbursed for a canceled trip
> Homemade bread, short circuits ... Our solutions to continue to eat well during confinement
> Sex: how to manage abstinence during confinement?
However, this mobilization is still weak compared to real needs. The SME Kolmi Hopen is the 4th French company in the sector. Nationally, production will drop from 15 to 40 million masks per month by mid-April. The country is still far from the count: 40 million, this is the estimated need each week to equip healthcare staff and nursing homes.
Contact professions require masks
France has been trapped in its lack of anticipation for ten years on its stocks and is counting on deliveries from China. A collective also seized the Council of State to intimate the government to provide the masks. The controversy swells over the management of the health crisis by the government.
>> Watch all of Raphaëlle Duchemin's programs in replay and podcast here
For the moment, the doctrine of the executive is maintained. Masks must be reserved in priority for nursing staff, there is no point in generalizing them to the entire population. But many professions in contact with the public, such as cashiers, law enforcement, firefighters, letter carriers but also some workers are increasingly demanding these protections.