The government introduced several measures on Saturday to try to contain the outbreak in France, including the cancellation of all meetings in enclosed spaces of more than 5,000 people.
“The Louvre is a confined space which welcomes more than 5,000 people a day,” said Galani, who also works at the museum. “There is real concern on the part of staff.”
Workers met together in the morning to discuss these fears, and Galani said that representatives of management could not convince the staff to go to work.
They are pressing for stepped-up protective measures, including the availability of hand sanitation gel and window barriers to isolate cashiers from audience members. Staff have forced a one-day closure over government pension reform plans in a strike in January.
The museum ended a special Leonardo da Vinci exhibition earlier this week with an all-time record of nearly 1.1 million people as visitors.
France now has 130 confirmed cases of the virus, health director general Jerome Salomon said Sunday, 12 people have recovered completely, 116 are in hospital and two have died.
