"If everyone walks around in masks, you can imagine psychosis! »: In the Haute-Savoie village of Contamines-Montjoie, shopkeepers and residents are trying to reassure tourists after the announcement of five cases of coronavirus among Britons who have stayed in the resort.
"We have had a lot of calls since this morning," says Annick Roger, director of the tourist office. "There have already been a few cancellations, people are panicking a bit, wondering where the contaminated people could have gone, that's normal ..." "Some tourists are already turning around on the highway. It is a shame that it is falling now. On the first day of the February holidays, and especially in the Parisian area, traders like Pascal Haye, the manager of a supermarket, regret the consequences of this discovery.
No sanitary cordon, no masks
In this village of 1,200 inhabitants located near Mont-Blanc, and invaded by thousands of tourists in the middle of the ski season, there are no signs that eleven people, all of British nationality, were hastily evacuated into the night from Friday to Saturday and hospitalized. Five of them, including a child, tested positive for the new coronavirus after one of their compatriots returning from Singapore stayed in the same chalet from 24 to 28 January.
No sanitary cordon, even in the chalet area where they stayed. No masks on the faces either, except skiing. Some people find the news improbable: "An Englishman back from Singapore who goes through the Contamines, it's still funny", smiles Franck Beretta, while loading helmets and ski boots in his car trunk. Others do not believe their ears: "I have to go to China for work, and I postponed my trip but from there to go get the virus during our ski vacation, there's no need to go very far away ! "Exclaims Olivier Campion, holidaymaker.
"It is not because we have had a stiffness that we have the coronavirus"
Eric Paris, the village pharmacist, has had "many requests for masks", but refuses to distribute them. “It's been 14 days, the incubation period has passed. If all people are walking around in masks, can you imagine psychosis? "" I saw with the regional health agencies, the town hall, there are no instructions. All the people who had to be extracted from Contamines were ", he underlines, insisting:" it is not because we had a stiffness after a day of skiing that we have the coronavirus " .
In shops, posters remind people of the gestures and reflexes to adopt in case of doubt, as well as a special Contamines toll-free number set up. The village school, attended by the contaminated 9-year-old British child, will be closed next week for screening.
"Not very reassured", Faustine, mother of a schoolmate of the young Briton, went to the information meeting organized at the end of the day by the authorities. “It's still scary, my son is coming out of five days of high fever. Is it a flu? Is it something else? We do not know, "worries the mother, who will take" imperatively "Sunday" at 9 am "her son to the consultation center set up by the ARS to receive children from the same school as the young patient , as well as people who have doubts.
“We are told of direct contacts but if it is like a flu, we cough in our hand, we touch the door and then we put the virus elsewhere (…) I think it is transmitted more easily than they want say it, ”she adds.
“In addition, Les Contamines, the name of the village, you see…. "
For Jean-François Monnard, craftsman, this meeting made it possible to "lift" his concerns, while he heard "everything and its opposite" since the announcement of these five cases of coronavirus in the station. At the restaurant Les Airelles, priority to tourism and relaxation: “The poor, they come from Paris, and we don't want to freak them out with that. In addition, Les Contamines, the name of the village, you see…. "Regrets Delphine Wattablet, the owner of the place.
On the village square, Alun Price, a Welshman spends his last day of vacation before returning to the United Kingdom. "I'm almost happy to leave," he laughs. "As if there were not enough problems with the English and Brexit!
For others, like Laurent Geneslay, a Parisian tourist, "it won't change anything in (his) vacation program". He even says he is ready "to wear a protective mask if it can make it less crowded in the cable cars!" "
Society
Coronavirus: Five Britons affected in Haute-Savoie, Agnès Buzyn on site this Sunday
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