Karine Lacombe, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, received the Legion of Honor on January 1, 2020. -

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Doctor or hospital director, epidemiologist, nursing home manager, nurse, Civil Security helicopter pilot, business manager, etc.

An exceptional promotion of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit rewarded, this Friday, hundreds of people committed for months against the Covid-19.

Some 63% of the 3,884 people decorated on Friday are for their "investment in the fight against the epidemic", "most working in the shadows", insisted the Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honor.

All these recipients have shown a "particular commitment" in health care services obviously but also scientific research, production of health equipment, continuity of teaching, or even "by imagining innovative cultural devices".

Infectious disease specialist Karine Lacombe and epidemiologist Eric d'Ortenzio are thus made knights of the Legion of Honor, as are SNCF Voyageurs CEO Christophe Fanichet for “logistical support” or even CDiscount CEO Emmanuel Grenier for “ business support ”.

Posthumous decorations

Forty people who died from Covid "in the performance of their duties" are also decorated posthumously, mainly doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, administrative agents and technical agents working in hospitals, nursing homes or liberal medicine, the press release said.

To pay tribute to the people mobilized against the Covid-19, four promotions are grouped together this Friday: those of January 1, 2021 and July 14, 2020 of the Legion of Honor (1,229 people) and those of May and November 2020 of the order national merit (2,655).

Michel Sardou, Yann Arthus-Bertrand or Roberto Alagna

But those who have gone to the front against Covid-19 are not the only ones rewarded.

The singer Michel Sardou and the photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand are thus made commanders of the Legion of Honor.

The lyrical artist Roberto Alagna and the singer Angélique Kidjo become officers, and the cellist Gautier Capuçon, the filmmakers Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano or the journalist Carole Gaessler are appointed knights.

L'Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon becomes a commander, Dominique Auzias, co-founder of the guide le Petit Futé and Christiane Lambert, president of the FNSEA, become officers, and the CEO of the Accor group Sébastien Bazin is knighted, just like that of Pernod Ricard, Alexandre Ricard, or the chairman of ArianeGroup André-Hubert Roussel.

Also honored as commanders are the Nobel prizes for chemistry Emmanuelle Charpentier and economics Esther Duflo, the psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik.

Glaciologist Claude Lorius and historian Mona Ozouf are elevated to the dignity of Grand Officer.

The national order of merit to hundreds of people who participated in the effort against Covid-19

Former resistance fighters Hubert Faure and Anne-Marie Krug-Basse were raised to the highest dignity, that of grandcross.

The navigator and president of WWF France Isabelle Autissier becomes a commander.

And the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, the former Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume and the national coordinator of intelligence and the fight against terrorism Laurent Nunez are appointed officers.

In the promotions of the National Order of Merit are also honored Friday hundreds of people who participated in the effort against Covid-19, caregivers but also directors of schools, emergency accommodation centers or the choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche and the patroness of Radio-France Sibyle Veil for having set up “innovative cultural or information devices”.

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