The French Ministry of Education announced on Tuesday evening the reinstatement of mandatory mask-wearing in all primary schools across the country starting next Monday, in a decision aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. The ministry stated that starting next Monday, all regions of the country will move to the second level of the health protocol, which includes the return of mask-wearing by all primary school students, after this measure had previously been limited to areas with high infection rates.
The French government had declared in September the end of the mandatory mask-wearing in primary schools in areas with low infection rates. Last week, the government announced that mask-wearing in primary schools would be limited to "the regions where, unfortunately, the incidence rate has risen above 50 cases per 100,000 people."
The decision by the Ministry of Education came shortly after President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech to the nation addressing the health situation in the country amid a rising trend in COVID-19 cases. In his speech, President Macron stated that "the fifth wave in Europe has started in the United Kingdom and in Germany, where more than 30,000 new cases are being recorded every day." While reassuring that "the situation in France is better," he warned that the infection rate in the country had increased by 40% in just one week.
