On February 11, the High Authority for Health (HAS) gave the green light for the use of saliva tests in schools for people without symptoms. The government’s objective was that at “ back from school holidays, we can perform several hundred thousand tests by saliva sampling ».
In the Academy of Lille, where schoolchildren will resume lessons next Monday, the campaign of saliva sampling tests will be launched on March 8. For children, these tests, like PCR tests, will not be compulsory: they will be done on a voluntary basis. ” Screenings in schools are done on a voluntary basis, and with the authorization of parents for minors “, Had indicated the Ministry of National Education at the beginning of February. Whether they are salivary, or PCR, does not change anything.
Parents will make the decision
It will therefore be up to the parents to decide whether or not they want their offspring to be tested. In the Academy of Lille, the parents of the children concerned will receive a request for authorization from Monday March 8. Therefore, the first saliva samples will therefore not take place before Thursday, March 11, time to retrieve the necessary authorizations.
Then, the saliva sampling screening campaign, which consists of spitting saliva into a tube, can begin. The sample is easier, and much less unpleasant, than the PCR test and the sample will then be analyzed in a laboratory, in order to look for the presence of the virus.
These tests will primarily be carried out in primary schools, and the tests with swabs in the nose will continue to be used in middle and high schools. ”
We do not yet have a quantified target and timetable, but the idea would be to deploy in all schools.
», Told The voice of the North the academic director of the North. The government is counting on 300,000 saliva tests per week in France in mid-March.
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