Covid-19: controversy in France around masks for sale in supermarkets

The controversy continues to swell. As of Monday, May 4, millions of single-use masks will be sold in France in retail chains. This announcement by Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Secretary of State to the Minister of the Economy and Finance, caused outrage from many health professionals who have been asking for more masks for weeks. Supported by the government, the large distribution defends itself, refuting the existence of a stock of hidden masks.

In a letter, seven orders of health professions - including that of doctors, midwives or nurses - expressed Thursday, April 30, their "dismay" at the sale of thousands of masks in supermarkets, authorized in a context of "shortage" for health professionals.

"How can we explain that our caregivers could not have been equipped with masks when we announced with great reinforcement of rowdy communication the staggering figures of masks sold to the public by certain distribution channels?", They ask themselves.

These caregiver representatives dispute in particular the fact that millions of more protective surgical masks will be sold in supermarkets. "No one would have criticized the distribution channels for the general public for distributing masks for the general public. This was an essential complement which would have come to usefully complement the arsenal of defense against the virus," they write. 

An "escalation of indecency"

It was less this initiative than the quantity of masks promised in supermarkets that made the signatories of the letter jump. "100 million here, 50 million there. Who says better?", They write, denouncing an "escalation of indecency". 

The Leclerc group should indeed receive an order for "170 million" masks, for example said Thursday Michel-Édouard Leclerc on BFMTV. For its part, Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour, announced Wednesday on BFMTV that the group "has secured" for the next few weeks some "225 million masks", including "175 million surgical, 50 million in textiles".

System U stores will distribute "fifteen million masks" from Monday, Dominique Schelcher, chairman of the chain, told Franceinfo. 

>> Read also: Coronavirus: how to make your homemade mask?

Large retail groups are committed to selling these surgical masks and the general public at cost or with a low margin. If the price of single-use masks cannot exceed 95 cents per unit, in accordance with the ceiling set by the State, the price of masks for the general public is not regulated due to the diversity of models. 

Faced with these accusations, the supermarket chain defended itself Saturday for having built up "hidden stocks" of masks. "I find it disgusting because it breaks the front that has been built between health personnel and the economic world", reacted Michel-Édouard Leclerc, in an interview with the Journal du dimanche, deeming the controversy "null, puerile, sterile ".

"It is defamation to say that Leclerc or Système U buried the masks in cellars while others needed them. We must stop the bullshit, there is no wolf", has t -he adds. "The masks are coming now, so this idea of ​​hidden stocks, of accumulation, these are bad invented scenarios," he insisted.

"This mask controversy is insane and unfounded," tweeted Dominique Schelcher. "The situation is simple: our orders for surgical masks for sale to the public date from 04/24, the day of government authorization. Before, we just had enough to protect our teams."

The unfounded controversy over masks in mass distribution says a lot about the state of public debate: we are not interested in the facts, we surf on approximations, we take positions without checking ... France has- doesn't she have enough immense challenges to overcome? pic.twitter.com/VimL1x90Yb

"Orders" rather than mask stocks

The controversy gaining momentum, the government is trying to calm the game. In an interview with the Parisian-Today in France, Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, assured Saturday that "mass distribution has not really of inventory and has only announced upcoming orders, for now. " 

Refuting the argument of a hidden mask stock, Olivier Véran tries to reassure caregivers. "The priority for me is that [they] can have surgical masks. Large-scale distribution is authorized to sell its stocks as soon as this condition is well respected. (...) We are coming out of a period when caregivers n "have not always had access to the masks in sufficient quantities. So I understand their emotion, even their anger," he said. 

>> Read also: Generalized wearing of masks: "We must do everything to avoid a second wave" by Covid-19

The Secretary of State for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, also sought to ease tensions, by detailing the distribution of orders for masks. "Two days ago, we received around 500 million masks from the start of the airlift. Half of these 500 million masks are orders from the state, they are orders from mass retailers, operators (...), all these orders that were placed a few weeks ago arrive in a coordinated manner and all these orders pass through customs, "he said on France 3 on Sunday. 

For Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the situation has also changed a lot since the start of confinement. "Today, we are no longer at all in the circumstances of a few weeks ago," with imports "which was struggling to arrive" to meet the demand of caregivers, he continued. 

Commission of Inquiry and Threat of Complaint

Unconvinced by these explanations, part of the political class took up the debate. Certain political figures continue to suspect the storage of masks. This is the case of Gironde Senator Nathalie Delattre, member of the Radical Movement, who asked for the establishment of a commission of inquiry on the subject.

"Either the mass distribution has a striking power infinitely greater than that of the State and has managed to get as many masks in such a short time, and in this case, the commission will have to shed light on the shortcomings of the national decision-making chain, "she wrote in a letter to the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and transmitted to AFP. "Either large distribution makes fun of the health of the French people, and will have to answer this question: how many lives could have been saved if these stocks had been distributed rather than being stored while waiting to be sold!"

For his part, Renaud Muselier, president of the Republicans of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, threatened in a tweet to file a "complaint for endangering the lives of others and failure to assist persons in danger" . He also gave "three days to the supermarket to prove that it did not have a secret stock of masks during the crisis".

I give 3 days to the large distribution to prove that it did not have a secret stock of masks during the crisis! The caregivers missed it, the @Regionsdefrance and the State suffered to get it: if this is confirmed, I will immediately file a criminal complaint. pic.twitter.com/0kFmlE20o6

Among the detractors of mass distribution is also Damien Abad, leader of deputies Les Républicains. He castigated the state for its "lack of anticipation", saying it was "supplanted by supermarkets". Maine-et-Loire MP Matthieu Orphelin and Yannick Jadot, leader of environmentalists, asked that caregivers receive these masks intended for mass distribution as a priority.

Let’s get out of the controversy on #mask: I suggest to mass retailers to reserve their 1st million masks for health professions working as a liberal. Physiotherapists, dentists, speech therapists, podiatrists ... We need them for our health pic.twitter.com/Fzf9e9Hhfu

Caregivers or not, all French people should be able to obtain masks after May 11. "There will be enough masks for all French people," promised Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, when presenting the deconfinement plan.

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