The Scientific Council responsible for enlightening the government on Covid-19 considers an increase in the circulation of the coronavirus in the fall "extremely probable", and therefore recommends to keep the health data collected during the epidemic. The extension of the data retention period (which makes it possible to detect and isolate the contacts of sick people) is provided for by the bill on the end of the health emergency, debated in the Senate from Monday. But this is controversial: the College of Physicians has already expressed its "deep concern" faced with the hypothesis of an extension of this duration, for reasons of confidentiality.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Monday June 22
"A unique source of information"
"These data will remain extremely valuable as long as the threat of a resumption of the circulation of the virus on French territory persists", judges for its part the Scientific Council, in an opinion made public on Monday. According to him, "an intensification of the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in the northern hemisphere at a more or less distant time (a few months, and in particular with the approach of winter) is extremely probable".
"In this context, we believe it is essential to keep the data for research and epidemiological monitoring", insists the Scientific Council. According to him, they are "a unique source of information (...) in order to understand the dynamics of the spread of the virus, and to appreciate the impact of the various measures to control (its) circulation".
A "pseudonymized" form
The "conservation will have to be done in a pseudonymized form and not simply anonymized", recommends the Council. This will allow "that the data of the same individual, non-identifying, can still be linked together (eg documentation of a reinfection), or linked with data from other databases".
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Coronavirus in China: should we worry about the new situation?
> Schools, taxes, fight against racism… What you should remember from Emmanuel Macron's speech
> Coronavirus: 5 mistakes not to make with your mask
> Coronavirus: three initiatives that will disrupt our beach habits
> Between empty TGV and TER at a discount, SNCF is preparing for a bad summer
> Can we catch the coronavirus on a plane?
"By way of comparison, the data on notifiable diseases, of which COVID-19 is a part, are generally stored in directly identifying form for a period of 12 months, before being stored in pseudonymized form for periods of up to at 25 for notifiable diseases under investigation such as tuberculosis, "notes the Council.
Before arriving at the Senate, the bill organizing the exit from the state of health emergency after July 10 was adopted at first reading, with the support of elected officials LREM, MoDem and Agir. Oppositions on the right and on the left, on the other hand, deemed it "liberticide".