Controversial, but verified, health passport enters French daily life

Bars, restaurants, cinemas, hospitals, transportation: Despite street protests, the Health Passport entered French daily life on Monday to stop the spread of COVID-19.

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Experts started the day with a specific fever, as there was no need to allow customers who were not in their companies.

“When I start getting used to people being impatient, I get annoyed.” At Brasserie du Passage Saint-Michel, in Bordeaux, southwestern France, the boss, Stefan Latour, refuses to serve on the terrace, an ordinary woman, who has not yet taken her second dose of the vaccine and is trying to pacify her dissatisfaction. However, “except for a few, others understand. If they do not have a passport, they will take coffee to take, ”he said.

On a few more streets, waitress Matilda Cotto at the Villa Tourney is even more concerned: “We are losing customers and this afternoon, for the time being (early morning, editor’s note), we have no reservations, but usually we complete the sums every time.”

In the words of Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Zebbari, the government assures us that tolerance for passport enforcement, which is considered “motivation for vaccination” and “protection of freedom”, is the order of the day. Its aim is to avoid new curfews and arrests.

Already in effect in many European countries and cultural venues in France since July 21, the Health Passport is in the form of a QR code that must no longer be submitted to go to restaurants, movies, museums, or theaters. And in long-distance transport.

And if it is not requested from the general practitioner, it will be in hospitals on the other hand.

For example, at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, there is an altercation with a visitor early in the morning.

“It’s disgusting to me, I’m ashamed of your place!” »Shout through security barriers called Septogenarian Bernard Franకోois, who does not come in to scan his wife Nicole, who is suffering from cancer because she does not have a health pass.

“Heavy” controls

A valid health passport shows a complete vaccination, a certificate confirming recovery from Kovid-19 in the last six months, or a negative test dating to “less than 72 hours”.

In places where this is in effect, wearing a mask is no longer mandatory.

Beware of fraudsters. On Sunday, Digital Cedric O’Shea warned that those who submitted their passports would be “heavily fined” and that their passports would be “blacklisted and misused”.

In transportation, the restrictions were “heavy”, Jean-Baptiste assured Zebari, but “not regular” in relation to the number of daily passengers on trains (400,000).

At Dijon Station (Center-East), the passport application did not give an additional expectation on Monday. True, “there is no momentary control at the station but only on trains,” explained an SNCF employee of the Railroads National Organization.

Police mainly target urban and tourist areas.

A professional who does not apply the necessary restrictions, if found guilty of this violation “more than three times in a period of 45 days”, fined up to 9,000 euros and imprisoned for one year.

The introduction of this health passport has been controversial on the street: demonstrations took place for the fourth weekend in a row and nearly 237,000 people marched peacefully on Saturday, officials said.

Inside the executive, President Emmanuel Macron said on July 12 that a televised speech had given impetus to the vaccine campaign. In early August, he posted twelve videos on social networks that were viewed more than 60 million times to answer questions on the topic.

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