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THE FRENCH DEPARTMENT OF BAS-RHIN MUST NOW ADAPT ITS “DISPROPORTIONATE” RULES ORDERING MASK-WEARING IN ALL PUBLIC PLACES, AFTER TWO HOSPITAL WORKERS TOOK LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO COURT. The two

hospital workers are from the department (in Grand Est), where mask-wearing was made mandatory in all public areas on Saturday, August 29. The legal challenge claims the rule is “an

infringement on personal liberty". It states that, rather than the blanket rule currently in place, people should be able to go mask-free at times when areas are not “densely crowded

with people” or when “local circumstances that favour the spread” of coronavirus are not present. COLUMN: NABILA RAMDANI: MASKS HAVE DRAMATICALLY CHANGED DAILY LIFE BAS-RHIN AUTHORITIES MUST

ISSUE NEW ORDER The courts in Strasbourg have given local authorities until September 7 to issue a new, modified order on mask-wearing in the department. If they fail to respond, the

original order - which was supposed to be in place until September 30 - will be suspended. Under the current rule, only children aged under 11 years old, disabled people with a medical

certificate, and people doing “physical, sporting or artistic” activities are exempt from wearing a mask in Strasbourg and the 12 other towns in the Bas-Rhin department. The rule was brought

in by local prefect Josiane Chevalier following a steady rise in cases in France. > #COVIDー19 | Face à l’évolution sanitaire dans les zones > denses, en lien étroit avec les autorités

 sanitaires et après > échange avec les élus, Josiane Chevalier a décidé de rendre le > port du masque obligatoire dans les communes de plus de 10.000 > habitants du #BasRhin ⤵️ 

pic.twitter.com/SQPEe9byu4 > — Préfet de région Grand Est & du Bas-Rhin 🇫🇷🇪🇺 > (@Prefet67) August 28, 2020 But the hospital workers who have challenged the order claim “it is not

clear from the file documents that in the 13 communes affected by the rule there is a permanent strong concentration of population or particular circumstances susceptible to contribute to

the spread of Covid-19". OPPONENTS ‘NOT ANTI-MASKERS’ The hospital workers, psychologist Vincent Feireisen and doctor Christian Chartier, have said they are “not anti-maskers”. In a

statement they said they opposed the order as it was was “too general” and “disproportionate”. The said: “In a healthy democratic society, adhesion to barrier gestures should not be obtained

out of fear of sanctions or indoctrination. “Certainly, there is the risk of contamination, certainly there is the necessary principle of precaution. But this principle cannot go as far as

to impose that someone walking their dog at midnight must wear a mask when there is no one else in the street.” In May they also contested (without success) a municipal order that enforced

mask-wearing in Strasbourg’s old town centre. OPPOSITION CAN BE USED ELSEWHERE IN FRANCE, AS COVID-19 CASES RISE The lawyer for Mr Feireisen and Mr Chartier has said the grounds for the

successful challenge in Strasbourg could “obviously be used elsewhere in France” where mask-wearing is mandatory. This comes as cases in France continue to rise. Figures from health body

_Santé Publique France_ (SPF) released on September 2 show there were 7,017 new cases recorded in previous 24 hours. This was a sharp increase on the previous day when over 5,000 new cases

were reported, but comparable to numbers from Friday, August 25 (7,319). The rate of positivity, indicating the percentage of all tests taken that come back positive, is now at 4.3%. Numbers

of hospitalisations due to Covid-19 are also rising, although much less drastically than earlier this year. The latest SPF figures show 22 people were admitted to intensive care with

Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the national total to 446. Meanwhile, the _Direction Générale de la Santé_ has said in the past seven days that more than 1 million tests were

undertaken in France, thus meeting government objectives. RELATED STORIES THE ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER OF SINGLE-USE MASKS IN FRANCE SMALL ANTI-MASK PROTEST IN PARIS ENDS WITH MASS FINES MASKS

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