Meals eaten in restaurants or at private meetings increase the risk of coronavirus contamination, according to a study published Thursday -

Daniel Cole / AP / SIPA

Going to restaurants or bars increases the risk of catching Covid-19, and meals in general play a central role in contamination, according to a long-awaited study released Thursday, on which the government relies to justify the closures.

"We see in this study an increased risk associated with frequenting bars and restaurants", explains its main author, Arnaud Fontanet, epidemiologist at the Institut Pasteur and member of the Scientific Council which guides the government.

Possible "clandestine" openings during confinement

But "we must be careful" in the interpretation of these results "on an eminently sensitive subject", he insists.

The study, called ComCor, was conducted in October / November, during the curfew and then confinement, when the establishments were partially or even completely closed.

It is therefore difficult to know "what is the real part of restaurants and bars in the transmission" of the virus, since this period did not correspond to their normal functioning.

According to the study, the risk increases even more during confinement than during the curfew, which seems paradoxical since the establishments were then supposed to be completely closed.

"This suggests that there were bars and restaurants open clandestinely during the confinement" and that the people who went there, even fewer, "were exposed to it a lot," says Professor Fontanet .

Determine the risk factors and places

In recent weeks, restaurateurs have protested the closures, arguing that they were not scientifically justified.

Charges rejected by Prime Minister Jean Castex: "We have international studies," he said on Europe 1 on Tuesday, assuring that for the French side, the ComCor study would "confirm" that the closure of restaurants and bars was 'necessary'.

Two American studies recently pointed out the role of restaurants in contamination.

One was published in September by the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the other in November in the medical journal Nature.

“There is a bundle of arguments,” says Professor Fontanet, citing these two works, his own study as well as “numerous descriptions of transmission in restaurants” around the world.

"The whole shows that it is a risky place, on the other hand, the extent of the risk must be reassessed under much more traditional opening conditions" than those of his study, he judges.

To reach this conclusion, ComCor researchers interviewed 3,400 volunteers infected with Covid-19 and 1,700 others who were not infected.

The goal: to define risk factors (profession, mode of travel, places visited, etc.) by comparing infected and non-infected.

This is how they determined that frequenting restaurants, bars or gyms was associated with an increased risk, unlike public transport or shops (food, clothing, etc.).

Private meetings, "main source of infection"

In addition to this section on risk factors, the ComCor study includes another section on the circumstances of contamination.

It concerns 25,600 infected people drawn from the files of the Health Insurance (Cnam), questioned by questionnaire.

It shows that "meals play a central role in these contaminations, whether in a family, friendly or to a lesser degree professional environment", since we are close to each other, and without a mask.

“Private meetings - families, friends - are the main source of infection,” recalls Professor Fontanet.

"If people have friendly dinners at their homes rather than going to a restaurant, that doesn't change a thing."

44% of those infected knew how they had been infected.

In addition, a very large number (97%) have isolated themselves, but often too late, for example while waiting to be tested.

"It is not a censorship tool"

Here again, however, it must be taken into account that the particular period of the ComCor study does not allow a definitive conclusion to be drawn.

It will be continued in the coming months to refine these initial results and to learn more about the transmission of the virus in other places, such as places of culture.

"It is not a censorship tool to say" Be careful, it is at your place that it is happening ", but on the contrary a tool which will accompany the reopening to see if we detect an excess risk", concludes Professor Fontanet.

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