Regarding masks and the management of the Covid-19 crisis, the Council of State ruled on Thursday that the State had respected its legal obligations, rejecting compensation claims from relatives of deceased persons and thus overturning certain decisions of the administrative court of appeal.
The highest administrative court considers that the State had been preparing since 2004 for the risk of the emergence of a highly pathogenic respiratory agent and had taken, from the beginning and during the pandemic, measures appropriate to the context and consistent with scientific recommendations, summarizes a press release.
It therefore considers that the conditions for compensating for faults allegedly committed by the State in the implementation of its mission of preparing for or responding to health alerts and crises are not met.
On appeal, the administrative court confirmed the State's responsibility for building up an insufficient stock of masks before the Covid-19 epidemic and accepted partial compensation for certain people more exposed to the risk of contamination, particularly due to their profession.
For example, it ruled to compensate the family of a general practitioner. In March 2020, the doctor received numerous patients at his office in Seine-Saint-Denis, some of whom were infected with the virus, without being able to obtain masks. He died of Covid in April 2020.
But, in this case, the Court of Appeal disregarded the rules governing the liability of public authorities and committed an error of law, according to the Council of State.
As for masks, he judges that "having been able to observe, a posteriori, that the number of masks available in the national stockpile had proved insufficient to meet the protection needs of the entire population does not lead to the conclusion that the State failed in its obligations."
– CJR ruling –
Because the State had developed a doctrine on stocks, taken into account the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) episode and the recommendations of the High Council for Public Health, and constituted a strategic stock of 100 million surgical masks intended for patients and their entourage, explains the Council.
And private and public employers, including health and social care, are responsible for building up stocks for their staff, he adds.
During the health crisis, the Council of State deemed the authorities' two-stage communication on the wearing of masks to be consistent with scientific recommendations and adapted to the context of global shortages.
The body notes that massive orders for masks were placed from the end of February 2020, supplemented by requisitions, and finds the decision to distribute these masks as a priority to healthcare professionals and establishments consistent with scientific recommendations.
Nor does it find fault with the State on other grievances related to crisis management, in particular the date of the first lockdown or screening.
For its part, the newspaper Le Monde revealed on Thursday the contents of the nearly 1,500 pages of the ruling handed down in July by the Court of Justice of the Republic on the government's management of the health crisis.
Although the CJR magistrates had dismissed the case in favor of Agnès Buzyn, Edouard Philippe and Olivier Véran, their ruling, published in full on the daily's website, revealed "serious failings," according to Le Monde.
According to excerpts cited by the newspaper, these magistrates write in particular that "the country was ill-prepared and ill-equipped, it experienced insufficient strategic stocks, a late testing policy, a logistical crisis, a failure to anticipate or underplay the second wave, and unclear governance."
However, the magistrates found nothing "criminally reprehensible, given the current state of the law" against the three former ministers, Le Monde emphasizes. A general dismissal of the charges was pronounced on July 7.
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