PARIS (AP) – As French President Emmanuel Macron leads the coronavirus in a presidential retreat in Versailles, French doctors warn families heading for holidays to remain cautious due to rising infections, especially at the dinner table.
Although Macron routinely wears a mask and adheres to the rules of social distancing, he organized or participated in several group meals in the days leading up to Positive Thursday. Critics say this is a bad example for his compatriots advised to hold their meetings to six people.
Macron is suffering from fever, cough and fatigue, presidential officials said Friday. They would not provide details of their treatment. He stays at the presidential residence of La Lanterne, in the former royal city of Versailles.
Macron’s positive test comes as French health authorities see an increase in infections again and alert them as French families prepare to gather for the Christmas and New Year festivities. France reported another 18,254 new infections on Thursday and the death toll is just under 60,000.
The Institut Pasteur in France published a study on Friday suggesting that meals at home and in public are a major source of pollution. Epidemiologist Pasteur Arnaud Fontanet told France-Inter radio on Friday that, during the holidays, “we can see each other, just not being too numerous, and at critical moments of meals, not too many people at the same table.”
Macron’s aides have struggled to contact all the people he had been close to in recent days. The French health minister suggested he may have been infected at an EU summit in Brussels last week, but Macron also had several meetings in Paris.
Macron did a test “as soon as the first symptoms appeared” on Thursday morning and will be isolated for seven days, according to the recommendations of national health authorities, the presidency said in a brief statement. The 42-year-old president “will continue to work and care for his activities remotely,” the statement added. Macron went ahead with a speech scheduled for video conference on Thursday.