Covid-19: 400,000 antigenic tests in the Grand Est, mainly for students (Illustration) -
Jean-Francois Badias / AP / SIPA
The Grand-Est will carry out a campaign of 400,000 antigenic tests - which give "a rapid result in about thirty minutes" - mainly targeting students before their departure for the All Saints holidays, announced Friday the regional prefect, Josiane Chevalier.
"This is an experiment," said the prefect, while the High Health Authority said Friday "favorable" to the use of these tests, faster than the reference test RT-PCR, as part of targeted screening operations.
In universities first
"Our goal is to offer these tests" to 210,000 students in the Grand Est "before they leave on vacation," she insisted.
The primary objective, "is to offer it in universities," continued Josiane Chevalier, specifying that the departmental delegations of the Grand-Est Regional Health Agency, will identify "the places where it can take place".
"Our priority objective today" is, "before October 24 and the departure of the students", to offer these tests "to all the establishments which would like them and which will be able" to carry them out.
The nursing homes then
"Our second objective is also to use them in nursing homes, this time for professionals returning from vacation to prevent the virus from entering" in these establishments, continued Josiane Chevalier.
The question also arises of using them in emergency services to determine "Covid and non-Covid patients", added the prefect.
According to the ARS, 851 new cases of Covid-19 had been identified Thursday in the Grand-Est.
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