Since Tuesday, wearing a mask is no longer compulsory in green spaces, on the coast, in parks, public gardens and on the shores of lakes in the Alpes-Maritimes.

A decision motivated by the low incidence rate in the border department of Italy.

Europe 1 went to meet these French people who can finally stroll with their noses in the wind.

REPORTAGE

While Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, said on Tuesday morning on Europe 1 that he hoped to be able to end the obligation to wear the mask outdoors by this summer, some French people can already walk on face in the open air.

In the Alpes-Maritimes, inhabitants can indeed remove their mask on beaches, in parks and public gardens due to the low incidence rate in the department (157 per 100,000 inhabitants).

For them, walking around with the nose to the wind is anything but anecdotal.

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"Free"

Placed on their towel, their feet in the sand, Sandra and Gwenaëlle fall off the mask. "We can breathe, enjoy the sea without being stuck and locked up. We move away from people, we stay between us, but we can still finally breathe", reacts Sandra at the microphone of Europe 1. "I was not not at all for the fact of wearing a mask ", abounds Gwenaëlle. "When we go to the beach or in the forest, I didn't see the point at all. It's really better to be free."

Several times a week, Annie comes to walk on the beaches between Mandelieu and Cannes.

Today is the first time she has gone out without her mask.

"I have one in case it bothers someone who doesn't agree," she says.

"But outdoors, it is justified that we are a little free to breathe quietly, to see each other, to smile."

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"I always thought it was silly"

For his part, Thierry, a resident of Le Cannet, admits to never having worn the mask in nature.

"On the beach, in the open air, I have always found it completely silly," he told Europe 1, adding that he did not understand "this policy of terror and fear".

At the edge of the Mediterranean, the reactions to the words of the Minister of Health, on the possibility of no longer having to wear the mask outside this summer, are not long in coming: "It's good news, we are there. believes, "smiles a passerby.

Another, questioned by Europe 1, finds the minister "perhaps a little too optimistic".

For now, there are not too many people, he says, "but if we have each other, we will still have to try to be vigilant."

In any case, it is not yet in question.

We will probably have to wait months, even years, before seeing this mask completely disappear from our faces.