“What we want to avoid is the person withdrawing his mask by eating chips for several minutes, or even several hours,” said Delegate Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebari, Monday.
Le Monde with AFP
There is the rule and there is the exception. It remains possible to eat and drink “quickly” if necessary in collective transport even if this is forbidden, assured the Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebari, Monday, January 3rd.
“If you have an imperative need to drink or eat on the train because you are fragile or simply because you have this physiological need, you can remove your mask (…) quickly and put it back afterwards after” , Has it declared on BFM-TV . “What we want to avoid (…), it is the phenomena, which are marginal but who exist, of the person withdrawing his mask by eating chips for several minutes or even several hours,” said the minister, before to add: “It’s this kind of abuse that we want to avoid.”
“Measure applied with discernment”
The Prime Minister Jean Castex, announced on December 27 at a press conference that the consumption of drinks and food would be “prohibited in (…) collective transport, including long distance”, from January 3rd.
A decree appeared Saturday in the Official Journal prohibited the sale on board until January 23 – What Mr. Djebari described as “common sense” – but does not prohibit consumption.
The National Society of French Railways (SNCF), however, followed the instructions of Mr. Castex and forbids drinking and eating on board his trains.
“On long distance trips, this measure will be applied with discernment, particularly for young children and to make it clear,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Transport on December 28th.
The fifth wave of Covid-19 also continues to disrupt regional trains, some railways being sick, contact or keeping their children. Monday, the company thus canceled 7% of its ter, but the epidemic did not have an impact on the traffic of the main lines and the suburbs of Paris, according to a spokesman.