The prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône has strengthened health measures and in particular imposed the wearing of masks in 27 municipalities of the department, including that of Mimet.

"There are zero cases in schools, kindergarten or nursery, and not in our nursing home either," protested the mayor of this city of 4,700 inhabitants. 

INTERVIEW

The mayor of Mimet, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, expressed his incomprehension on Tuesday when he discovered that his small town is among the 27 in the department where the mask is mandatory.

On Monday, the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône stepped up measures to curb the spread of the epidemic.

In particular, he imposed the mask from 6 am to 2 am in 27 municipalities where the disease incidence rate exceeds the alert threshold of 100 per 100,000.

But the mayor of this small town of 4,700 inhabitants assures that he has not been informed of any case of coronavirus.

"There are zero cases in schools, kindergarten or nursery. In our nursing home there are no cases either", protested Georges Cristiani, questioned Tuesday evening on Europe 1. 

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"It is not normal that I find myself on a list where I would be supposed to have more than 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In my town, that means that there are at most 5 cases of Covid!", A- he continued. 

"We are treading on our heads not to warn the mayor" 

The mayor of Mimet attacked the Regional Health Agency (ARS), which allegedly did not inform him of any case of coronavirus.

"We walk on the head not to warn the mayor. There we anguish 4,700 inhabitants while there are perhaps 5 cases of coronavirus that I do not know. It puts the population in turmoil. The director general of the ARS made a serious mistake, "thundered Georges Cristiani. 

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In the evening of Tuesday, the ARS told AFP that the list of municipalities most affected by the virus that it established "allows the prefect to stop his measures".

"We will write jointly to the mayors concerned to inform them of the situation. The list of the municipalities concerned will be reviewed every week," added the regional health agency in an email to AFP.

Also contacted by AFP, the prefecture did not react.