Emmanuel Macron arrived Wednesday afternoon at the Mulhouse Field Military Hospital, installed this week in the parking lot of a hospital center in the city submerged by victims of the coronavirus, in the Great East particularly affected by the epidemic.
Arrived around 5.30 p.m., the head of state immediately put on a mask before starting a visit of about three hours, during which he will exchange with the main actors of the management of the crisis - elected officials, hospital staff of the Mulhouse hospital -.
Emmanuel Macron arrives at the site of the field hospital installed by the army in the parking lot of the Mulhouse hospital center. Head of State receives mask before starting visit #AFP pic.twitter.com/3vgbBlO9gc
- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) March 25, 2020This set of gray tents and its team of a hundred caregivers can treat 30 patients simultaneously. Already 10 patients are hospitalized there.
"It is historic and exceptional up to this health crisis which is exceptional," commented in the press the main doctor Antoine, who was responsible for deploying in France this military structure usually reserved for war wounded.
President "wants to be by the French"
Emmanuel Macron "wants to be alongside the French who are on the front line in the health crisis and those who come in for reinforcement, like the medical personnel of the armies," commented government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye, asked about the multiple visits of the head of state in recent days.
He also visited the Pasteur Institute on Friday and Monday in an establishment that accommodates homeless people.
Asked about the fact that Emmanuel Macron has not been equipped with a mask so far, Sibeth Ndiaye repeated that "there is no need for a mask when you respect the protective distance from others" and that there is "no reason for the President of the Republic to depart from these rules".
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To date, 1,100 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in hospital and 2,516 patients are in intensive care, with 407 deaths yesterday in the great east and 595 patients in intensive care in the region.