The saliva test campaign begins Monday March 8, 2021 in kindergartens and primary schools in Normandy. It will gain momentum over the weeks. The stake: to stop the progression of the virus which circulates more and more in the region.
The prefect of Seine-Maritime, the rector and the director of the Regional Health Agency will be, Monday March 8, 2021, in a school in Bihorel, near Rouen.
Objective: to kick off, upon returning from winter vacation, a campaign of saliva tests in schools to fight against the spread of Covid-19.
Results within 24 hours
In addition to antigenic tests, which continue to be deployed in middle and high schools, this research for the virus through saliva is reserved for nursery and primary schools, “Where it may be more difficult to perform a nasopharyngeal swab to the pupils”, underlines the rectorate.
Offered on a voluntary basis, these saliva tests will be carried out on the scale of an entire establishment, students and staff alike. They will be led by health specialists from National Education accompanied by technicians from medical biology laboratories. The latter, responsible for analyzing the tests, will deliver the results within 24 hours to the legal representatives of the pupils.
“Contact-tracing will be carried out around all confirmed cases”, adds the rectorate of Normandy, which specifies that the deployment of saliva tests will be carried out gradually “In the coming weeks in priority territories”. Those, in this case, where the incidence rate is the highest.
Crucial days
At the beginning of March, according to the latest data from the ARS, the incidence rate was 171.8 per 100,000 inhabitants in the region (+ 21 points in one week) with strong disparities between the departments. Thus, the index rate was 104.96 in Manche, 122.78 in Calvados and 135.07 in Orne, but it exceeded 200 in the departments of the former Haute-Normandie: 208, 88 in Seine-Maritime and 222.74 in Eure.
However, it is when this rate crosses the 250 mark that the departments are placed under close surveillance. This leads to new restrictive measures as was the case last week with the closure of non-food shopping centers of more than 10,000 m² in twenty-three departments placed under increased vigilance (Somme, Oise, Yvelines and Eure-et-Loir for the neighboring departments). Suffice to say that the next few days promise to be crucial in Seine-Maritime and Eure.
Hence, during the weekend of March 6 and 7, the acceleration of the vaccination campaign. Some 8,000 new appointments were offered to people aged 75 and over, as well as to people at very high risk without age criteria for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, which requires a double injection. At the end of last week, in Normandy, 189,312 people had received a first injection and 115,785 a second.
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