On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19, causing other European leaders to go into quarantine after being close to him recently. French authorities noted that Macron was tested as soon as he began experiencing symptoms. The 42-year-old president isn’t thought to be in any major danger from the virus and will self-isolate for the next seven days. He will continue handling his responsibilities as president while isolated.
The first lady, Brigitte Macron, has shown no symptoms as of the time of this writing. However, she will still self-isolate proactively as a precaution. The French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, will also be self-isolating for a week in accordance with French medical guidelines. This has also led to the cancellation of Macron’s planned trip to Lebanon next week.
Precautionary Measures
Several European leaders who have recently been in close contact with Macron have announced that they will also be self-isolating for a week out of an abundance of caution. Pedro Sanchez, the Prime Minister of Spain, Antonio Costa, the Prime Minister of Portugal, and European Council President Charles Michel have all stated they will be self-isolating to prevent inadvertently spreading the virus.
COVID-19 is particularly contagious and can often be spread by people who don’t feel sick and aren’t experiencing symptoms. This allows it to move quickly through populations and often results in even those people taking precautions, like world leaders, getting sick. Macron isn’t the first European head of state to become infected with the virus; Boris Johnson, the UK’s Prime Minister, contracted the virus early in the pandemic.
French Virus Response Continues
France has been in a state of lockdown since early November. That measure was set to be lifted this week. However, the country has been unable to hit the target number of active cases required to get out of lockdown. As long as new cases are over 5,000 per day, Macron has stipulated, the lockdown will remain in effect. On Wednesday, France recorded over 17,000 new cases, bringing the country to over 2.4 million infected since the pandemic started.
French news stations have been showing footage of protesters calling for theaters and museums to reopen after missing the initial target date for reopening. However, the lockdown measures are set to remain in place for at least another three weeks. As the president isolates and recovers from the virus, much of France must now reckon with their ongoing virus response.
