Sanitary pass: how professionals are trying to adapt to the new situation

By werdt25/12/2022450 Views

Concern reigns among professionals concerned by the health pass announced Monday evening by Emmanuel Macron. The timetable envisaged has already been relaxed, leaving in particular teenagers aged 12 to 17 and staff in places open to the public, until August 30 to comply.

While traders, restaurateurs and long-distance transport professionals do not question the public health imperative, they are concerned about their ability to adapt to the implementation of measures. The threat of a fine of 45,000 euros for the operator of a place that fails to meet future health pass control obligations is not made to reassure.

· Businesses fear "enormous problems"

The Head of State's announcement threw a chill on the world of commerce, whose reactions were not long in coming even if at this stage we still do not know what size of shopping center the introduction of the health pass is aimed at from the beginning of August. Professionals are concerned about their ability to get staff vaccinated on time.

“For the moment, we could not force an employee to be vaccinated. We do not know how the brands will do to carry out this operation, ”said Yohann Petiot, director general of the Alliance du Commerce, on Tuesday. He calls for "compensation measures", "the time that vaccination ramps up".

The Trade Federation (FCD) believes, for its part, that compulsory vaccination will create "enormous problems". Jacques Creyssel, its general delegate, wonders about the room for maneuver of food shops and pharmacies which do not have doors in shopping centers. He asks that the government set up “vaccination trucks in our car parks as soon as possible” to speed up the vaccination of employees. “Our employees are young, therefore poorly vaccinated,” he lamented on Twitter on Tuesday.

Dominique Schelcher, CEO of System U, says he does not know what the obligation to "sanitary pass in shopping centers on August 1^st covers". And, like the Galeries Lafayette group, he was waiting to see more clearly the arbitrations of Matignon on the subject.

"It's a cold shower for our sector", reacted for his part Maël Aoustin, the general manager of Galimmo, the property company which manages the shopping malls adjoining the Cora hypermarkets. He wonders about the methods of application on the ground. “In concrete terms, you need people at the entrance to shopping centers who check each customer who enters,” he underlines.

According to Bercy, this will require the hiring of 7,000 people. Unless the control is carried out at the entrance of each store. This would also resolve the issue of access to supermarkets and pharmacies for which the pass will not be required. “I am waiting for the implementing decrees”, concludes Maël Aoustin, while affirming “we will adapt”.

Restoration wonders how it will control customers

Health Pass: How Professionals Are Trying to adapting to the new deal

After ten months of closure in total since March 2020, the need for a health pass from August to eat at restaurants, a priori including terraces, according to the details given Tuesday morning by members of the government, worries the restorers. Even if it removes the risk of having to stop the service again.

"The announcement hit us like a sledgehammer," says Frank Delvau, president of UMIH Paris-Ile-de-France, the main employers' organization in the hotel and restaurant industry. The profession had requested a postponement of the measures until September 1. She was partly heard. Concerns related to employees are the most significant even with the deadline to August 30. “For many restaurateurs, this would have been difficult to apply before, particularly in view of the vaccination delays”, underlines Stéphane Manigold, president of the Eclore group. The employees of its own establishments all received their second dose by the end of June at the latest. "We had anticipated as soon as the profession was considered a priority," he adds.

The employers' unions in the sector are wondering how they will succeed in mobilizing a person to carry out, from the beginning of August, the checks at the entrance, vis-à-vis customers, in the middle of the rush of meal times. And having to refuse access to the table for trades rather trained in hospitality. “We are neither police, nor gendarmes, nor security guards. And we are already having trouble getting our customers to flash the QR Codes at the entrance,” remarks Frank Delvau.

The fears of course also concern attendance, while only 40% of French people have received both doses. It remains to be seen whether the allure of tasting a good dish will entice others to get tested. The Umih estimates at least 30% the loss of turnover once the health pass is in force.

“The clientele of traditional restaurants is pretty much vaccinated, but you have to think about bars. Nobody will do a test before going to drink their coffee in the morning. Similarly, a group of friends deciding at the last moment to go eat outside will give up if only one does not have the health pass, ”notes Stéphane Manigold who judges that the latter is the equivalent of a new gauge. The profession therefore calls on Bercy to reconsider the device for decreasing aid, applied this summer to return to the level of May.

· The world of transport in limbo

The big blur… For the moment, transport companies are awaiting clarification from the government on the obligation to present a health pass to make a long journey distance by train, plane or coach. “All we are sure of is that this measure targets all TGV Inoui and Ouigo, Intercités and international trains departing from France. TER and Transilien are not concerned.

The measure will apply from the beginning of August, but we don't even know the exact date of its entry into force. We are working on the terms of application, but we need to know a little more, ”said a spokesperson for the SNCF on Tuesday.

Who will control these passes? "In connection with station staff, there is the possibility of using the police, and in the trains to the controllers", specified the Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, knowing that "500,000 people per day would be concerned. The fact of no longer having to check 12-17 year olds until August 30 before boarding the trains should lighten the task a little.

"We expect operators to find solutions so that there is maximum fluidity [...]" declared the president of the National Federation of Transport User Associations (Fnaut), Bruno Gazeau, very much in favor of an extended health pass rather than lockdown movement restrictions.

On the Flixbus side, uncertainty also predominates. "We lack concrete information for the moment, but we will do everything to apply the new health protocols", says one at the coach operator. Ditto for its competitor BlaBlaCar. The health pass "will allow passengers on our buses to travel even more serenely this summer", even indicates the company.

This should not, however, concern his carpooling activity. This is an “exchange between individuals”. Therefore, the health instructions already in place in the car - with the wearing of a mandatory mask and regular ventilation of the vehicle - remain in place. However, “we are working on a feature that will allow carpoolers who wish to declare that they have a health pass, in order to reassure people who want to travel with them”, we continue at BlaBlaCar.

At Air France, we are waiting for specific instructions from the supervisory authority, the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGAC), before declining them. "This will a priori concern domestic flights," said a representative of the airline. However, the air sector is already used to managing health passes abroad, overseas and Corsica. The checks are carried out by the companies at check-in… often resulting in longer queues.