To solve the problem of screening centers that are overwhelmed, several measures are being applied. The AP-HP will offer rapid tests to detect Covid-19, 20 new centers have opened in Île-de-France and saliva tests, which are less painful and faster than PCR tests, could be implemented from here at two weeks.
- Anti-gene tests are being implemented today at the AP-HP, while saliva tests should arrive within 15 days.
- The Ile-de-France ARS has announced the opening of 20 new screening centers across the region.
Screening is at the heart of the strategy to fight Covid-19. For the past few weeks, the various centers have been overwhelmed and the results are taking longer and longer to be available, sometimes taking up to a week. To speed up the process, several measures are being put in place.
Anti-gene and saliva tests in addition to PCR
From this Wednesday, September 9, rapid anti-gen screening tests will be used in Île-de-France. “This week, in Île-de-France, we should start deploying anti-gene tests, which are rapid tests, we have 15, 20 minutes to wait and we have the resultdetailed Olivier Véran at the microphone of France InterTuesday, September 8. We should start from Wednesday at the AP-HP [Assistance publique hôpitaux de Paris, NDLR].” Unlike the PCR test, which looks for the presence of virus RNA, this test detects the presence of virus proteins. A size difference that makes the anti-gene test less effective and is estimated at 60% of the sensitivity of the PCR test. The bet is then to consider that the more a person is contagious the more he hates the virus in his saliva and that the error rate would correspond to the least serious and contagious cases.
In this desire to have tests that give faster results, saliva tests should soon be deployed on the territory. François Blanchecotte, the president of the National Syndicate of Biologists, estimated on European 1 that they should be available”within 15 days”. He promises that these tests will be “as reliable“than PCR tests”because the same technology is used afterwards. Simply, we differ on the sampling mode: we take a sample in the mouth, it goes much faster and it’s much less painful. Private laboratories are being equipped to process more samples”, he confides.
A debated test access policy
To strengthen access to tests, ARS Île-de-France has announced the opening of 20 Covid screening centers throughout the region. Despite a sharp increase in the number of tests, from 45,000 to 200,000 per week, and the establishment of more than 591 sampling points in the region, “difficulties in accessing tests, linked to the increase in demand, shortages of reagents or human resources issues, remain”, notes the ARS in a press release published this Wednesday, September 9. In response, 20 new centers will therefore be created “whose activity will be exclusively dedicated to RT-PCR virological tests” with a target of 500 daily tests.
The last point that is debated on the screening policy concerns priority access to tests. For the time being, no difference is made between people who want the test, those who have symptoms, those who are contact cases or simply those who want to know. “I think we have to prioritize people who have symptoms”, pleads for his part François Blanchecotte. He estimates that one in four people take the test”to reassure”, adding that one cannot blame them given the current context. He wants a clearer policy of priority access to tests. “I would have liked mass screenings, but targeted on populations on which we could have an active circulation of the virus”, he advances.
.
