France imposes green pass to go to museum (and cinema, theater, restaurant... )

Never mind that museums are places where physical distancing is, in the vast majority of cases, spontaneous: in France, as of July 21, to go to see any museum and or place of culture you will need a green pass, or pass sanitaire as the French call it, but the gist is the same: you have to prove that you are vaccinated or cured of Covid-19, or present a negative swab taken no more than 48 hours before. The same applies to shows, concerts, and amusement parks.

The announcement was made by President Emmanuel Macron, who addressed the nation at 8 p.m. this evening. The decision to impose the health pass was made because of fears of the spread of the Delta variant, and in fact it will make cultural and social life virtually impossible for those who are not vaccinated, unless they want to get a swab before doing anything: because the pass will not only be required to enter cultural venues. Starting in August, in fact, the pass will also be required to gain access to theaters, cinemas, bars and cafes, restaurants, shopping malls, nursing homes, as well as some means of transportation (planes, trains, long-distance buses). Not only that, in order to incentivize the population to vaccinate, Macron also announced that the possibility of availing of free swabs will be abolished. From the time the measures take effect, anyone who wants to be tested will have to pay.

“The health pass,” said French Health Minister Olivier Véran, “will mean that if you are vaccinated your life will not change. We will no longer be in the situation of last year, when we stopped businesses, bars, restaurants, museums. If we allow access to the vaccinated, there will be no danger.” But for many this is not good news. There are, for example, those who fear that the French, in order not to be subjected to the strict rule, will limit social life and therefore will not go shopping in malls, will not go to bars or restaurants, will give up cultural venues, and so on: in short, it could boomerang. And then there are grey areas, as the SNCF, the national rail transport company, was quick to point out, writing in a note that there are many elements to be clarified (for example, about who will have to check the passes, and in what way: in fact, the government has not yet made any decisions on the matter). Will the French accept the new rule?

France imposes green pass to go to museum (and cinema, theater, restaurant... )

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