REPORTAGE
This phenomenon has been observed for several weeks: the queues are growing in front of the medical analysis laboratories. This is the logical consequence of an increase in the number of PCR tests in France, carried out to find out if a patient has the coronavirus. Before going on vacation, requests for screening increase, as noted by Europe 1.
"We can't take everyone"
On the front of a laboratory in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, a poster indicates that there must be "six people maximum in the waiting room". There are four more waiting outside. Pauline is one of them: "I want to know if I can move, go to the restaurant, move", explains the young woman, who wants to go on vacation with peace of mind. Behind, in the queue, Shaima needs proof that she is not sick to take the plane: "It's for a trip, I need to present the result of the PCR test before boarding . "
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Inside the laboratory, agitation dominates: the nurse runs in all directions and connects the samples. "We have a lot of calls and we can't take everyone," she says. "We have to decline a lot of people who must take the test before taking the plane."
The risk of an influx of patients
The atmosphere is much calmer at the Clément laboratory, located next door. Here, the screening tests are done there by appointment only, "for the comfort of the patient, so that he waits as little as possible and for an organization in complete sanitary safety", details the biologist. "It is a very special journey for this type of direct debit."
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Despite an adapted organization, the structure borders on overcapacity due to a multiplicity of non-urgent requests. "With these 'other' requests, the risk is to create an influx of patients which will limit the access of patients who really need this test, on an individual and collective scale, to avoid the spread of the virus", explains one of the biologists, Arthur Clément. "It exceeds our capacities and our organization. We do not have the staff to accommodate so many requests."
"Priority, for obvious reasons of health security, is reserved for patients who present suspected symptoms of coronavirus compared to patients for whom the test is done for preventive purposes", continues the specialist. "The test is recommended for symptomatic patients and so-called 'contacts'." And thus limit the risk of a second summer wave.