Bernard Gonzalez, the doctor to the Stade de Reims football team, has committed suicide. The doctor had been self-isolating and referred to the coronavirus in his suicide note.
Stade de Reims broke the news of Gonzalez’ death on Sunday. The statement read, “Devastated, Reims cries for Bernard Gonzalez,” said a statement released by the Ligue 1 club. “Not just the club but also hundreds of men and women in Reims.” According to French newspaper Le Parisien, the 60-year-old doctor had quarantined himself at home in recent days, as both he and his wife were suffering from COVID-19. Gonzalez left behind a suicide note, in which the coronavirus was mentioned as one reason for his death. Reims Mayor Arnaud Robinet told the newspaper that he would not comment on the note. Reims club president Jean-Pierre Caillot said he was “stunned” by the death of the 60-year-old doctor, who had worked at the club for over 20 years. “Words fail me,” Caillot wrote. “This pandemic affects the Stade de Reims in the heart, a personality of Reims and a great professional of the sport has left us. Doctor Gonzalez, in the harshest periods for the club, worked on a voluntary basis. He is my personal doctor, and today all my thoughts, those of the club where he will remain a strong figure, go to his wife and his parents.”
As the football club mourned the loss of its doctor, French authorities announced another 518 coronavirus deaths on Sunday. More than 90,000 cases of the illness have been recorded in France, and nearly 2,900 people have died.
