PARIS (AP) – While French President Emmanuel Macron fights the coronavirus during a presidential retreat in Versailles, French doctors are warning families heading for the holidays to remain cautious due to an increase in infections – especially at the dinner table.
While Macron routinely wears a mask and adheres to social distance rules, he organized or participated in multiple group meals in the days before testing positive Thursday. Critics say this is a bad example for fellow countrymen who are advised to hold their gatherings up to six people.
Macron is suffering from a fever, cough and fatigue, presidency officials said Friday. They would not give details of his treatment. He is staying in the presidential residence of La Lanterne in the former royal city of Versailles.
Macron’s positive test comes as French health authorities see another surge in infections and warn of more as French families prepare to get together for Christmas and New Years celebrations. France reported a further 18,254 new infections on Thursday and the death toll is just under 60,000.
The French Pasteur Institute published a study on Friday that suggests meals at home and in public are a major source of contamination. Pasteur epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet said on France-Inter radio Friday that “we can see each other during the holidays, just not too many, and at critical times during meals, not too many people at the same table.”
Macron’s assistants tried to contact all the people he’d been close to in the past few days. The French health minister suggested he could have been infected at an EU summit in Brussels last week, but Macron also had several meetings in Paris.
Macron ran a test Thursday morning “as soon as the first symptoms appeared” and will isolate himself for seven days, in line with recommendations from national health authorities, the presidency said in a brief statement. The 42-year-old president “will continue to work and conduct his activities remotely,” the statement said. Macron continued on Thursday with a scheduled speech by videoconference.