Paris (AFP)

Wearing the mask is a "lesser harm" to avoid reconfiguration, said Tuesday Philippe Juvin, head of emergency at the Pompidou hospital in Paris, suggesting that it be reimbursed by social security.

"There is a real subject on the loosening of barrier gestures, it is well shown by all opinion polls, you just have to go out on the street to see. There are more cases (from the Covid) that are detected in town, "he said on Sud Radio.

"If we let it go, and we don't react, we may find ourselves in a few weeks, in a few months, in a situation that may have to be reconfigured. It would be catastrophic," he continued, while Public Health France has found a slight increase in the circulation of the coronavirus last week.

Philippe Juvin is one of the 14 doctors who have just signed a tribune demanding "the wearing of the compulsory mask in all enclosed public places".

"I'm like you, when I put it on, it's hot, it's very annoying, but between all the evils if you have to choose the least, we suggest that you have to wear it in all enclosed public spaces" like shops, cinemas, theaters, administrations, he said.

He suggested reimbursement of the mask by social security. "If we consider that it is an object of prevention, it must obviously be treated as such".

Professor Juvin also asked that the French be "tested where they are", on vacation or at work.

"We don't test enough in France. According to the figure given by Public Health France, just 17% of French people who have symptoms are tested," he said on RMC, criticizing the poor management of the health crisis by " obese hyperadministration ".

Professor Dominique Salmon-Ceron, infectious disease specialist at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, stressed that the government should make the indications on the wearing of the mask clearer, which is only mandatory under penalty of a fine in transport .

"It is necessary to specify the indications for all the other situations" as in the supermarkets or during the gatherings. "This will help the organizers to enforce them," she said on France Inter.

"The mask protects others, it is a civic action", insisted for his part on RFI Pierre-Louis Druais, professor of general medicine, member of the Scientific Council.

A few hours from a long-awaited interview with Emmanuel Macron, he wants the president to relay "the message that we all share: the war is not over".

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