PARIS — The spreading coronavirus epidemic shuts down France’s Louvre Museum today, with workers who guard its trove of art works fearful of being contaminated by the museum’s flow of visitors from around the world.
“We are very worried because we have visitors from everywhere,” says Andre Sacristin, a Louvre employee and union representative for its staffers.
“The risk is very, very, very great,” he says in a phone interview. While there are no known virus infections among the museum’s 2,300 workers, “it’s only a question of time,” he says.
A short statement from the Louvre says a staff meeting about virus prevention efforts stopped the museum from opening as scheduled this morning. Would-be visitors were still waiting to get inside this afternoon.
— AP
Tourists, some wearing protective masks, line up to enter the Louvre Museum in Paris on February 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)
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