Where and when will protective facemasks be available? As deconfinement is upon us, many French people are trying to find non-surgical masks to be protected from covid-19. Some collectivities didn’t wait long before placing orders in order to provide their inhabitants with those famous alternative masks.
To face the health crisis and keep on fighting against coronavirus, Blanc-Mesnil mayor in Seine Saint Denis Thierry Meignen announced a factory to produce surgical masks will open in the city, a project made possible thanks to Chinese group Eurasia. In addition to being “built in record time”, this factory is expected to manufacture up to 500,000 masks a day and “supply” all Île-de-France. The factory is said to start manufacturing “in early May” the mayor says.
😷 Fier de vous annoncer que #LeBlancMesnil va accueillir la première usine de fabrication de masques d’@iledefrance !
— Thierry MEIGNEN (@ThierryMeignen) April 21, 2020
Merci à @vpecresse pour son précieux soutien pic.twitter.com/xewi27HWlA
Tweet reads: “Proud to announce that Le Blanc Mesnil will welcome the first facemask manufacturing factory in Ile-de-France! Thank you Valérie Pécresse for your precious support”.
According to Le Parisien, 2,500sqm will be used to start producing surgical mask, but this surface will be widened if need be. “The production of 400,000 to 500,000 masks a day will increase, if need be, to 1 million” Thierry Meignen said the newspaper.
To enable such a fast production and train about fifteen employees, two Chinese engineers are said to come over soon.
During his fourth televised address, President Emmanuel Macron said about facemasks that from May 11, “in compliance with mayors, the State will enable each French to get a general public facemask” to be protected from covid-19.
These past few days, some elected local officials multiplied orders to provide their inhabitants with protective masks in preparation for phasing out. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced to give 2.2 million cloth facemasks to Parisians in mid-May.
