While the coronavirus epidemic is soaring in France and the latest health directives still require more screening tests, the line in front of the laboratories is getting longer. The Minister of Health Olivier Véran announced eight million PCR or antigen tests carried out last week in the country. An unprecedented number. Which creates a certain tension in the laboratories which are trying to cope.
With our special correspondent in Remiremont, Jeanne richard
In this small town in the Vosges, in eastern France, the laboratory is always full. Sometimes the line stretches for meters in the street. This mother of a family who came to have her daughter tested in the case of contact at college takes her trouble patiently: “ You have to do it to protect yourself and others, you have no choice. But after that you have to be able to free yourself, you have to find a place for meetings. “
At the reception, a technician estimates that 70 to 80% of patients who present themselves every day come for Covid-19 screening tests: ” We are trying to adapt as best we can for a minimum of waiting, but I recognize that there is such an influx currently with the new measures that yes, it ends up being a production line. “
“ We do the maximum “
Prominently on his desk, a poster “Stop the violence”: ” Stop violence, she says, it is a way of protecting oneself in order to avoid having unpleasant thoughts or unpleasant behavior after a certain period of waiting. This allows us to say that we are doing the maximum. But from the patient, we expect patience and above all we expect understanding of all this request at the present moment. “.
But sometimes, the situation becomes explosive: insults, attacks … Some laboratories have had to recruit guards or have called in the police to manage the influx of patients.
Omicron, the last variant before the end of the pandemic? The hypothesis has been circulating for a few days, particularly in the mouth of Olivier Véran. The French Minister of Health suggested that the fifth wave could be the last, because of the high level of contamination due to Omicron and by extension, the high level of immunity for those who would have been infected.
Except that this is not really the scenario adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO). For the chief of emergency operations, Mike Ryan, as long as vaccines are lacking in poor countries, the Covid-19 will find a way to spread: ” Quite frankly, this is wishful thinking. There are still billions of people who are not vaccinated. So there are plenty of possibilities for the virus to spread and mutate further. We hope that will not happen. But we are not doing enough for this. Especially when we look at the inequality of access to vaccines. Already with the Delta variant, I remember that some scientists with whom we were discussing told us “This is the most successful version of the Covid that we have seen. We do not see how it could evolve even more”. And yet … This is what happened. We have the right to hope. But we are not doing enough, globally, to say that there will not be other variants. “.
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