Village fury as ski Brits catch Covid
FEARFUL French villagers have accused “stop-over” British students of dodging lockdown curbs after 16 youngsters tested positive for Covid at a ski resort.
The 26 gap-year skiers aged 18 to 20 sparked a virus tracing alert in tiny Vallorcine, in the Chamonix Valley. They are now isolating at the four-star Dormio Resort.
They each paid £8,900 for the 10-week ski instructor course in Verbier, Switzerland, and some were delayed after being banned from boarding a Eurostar train at London St Pancras because of Covid rules.
After Switzerland closed its borders, organisers arranged for the group to spend their first 10 days in Vallorcine, a hamlet of 400 people on the French-Swiss border.
But by Thursday evening 16 youngsters had tested positive.
The Dormio Resort’s manager said: “They are well-behaved and respectful. But I am very concerned about the impact on the village.”
A villager said: “People are worried, especially if it’s this new British variant of the virus.
“They couldn’t fly to Switzerland so came here instead. Our [ski] lifts are closed here so it’s even more infuriating that they have used our village as a stop-over.
“It’s irresponsible. People here are not pleased.”
Guy Ordway of Peak Leaders, which organised the course, said: “At no point has it been an exercise in cheating the system. It’s very unfortunate.
“They all had Covid tests in the UK. They think they caught it on the train in France.”