Illustration of a screening test.

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UGO AMEZ / SIPA

  • LR president of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez wants to allow all those who wish to be tested for free "to protect their family" before Christmas.

  • More than two million tests have been ordered to enable a mass vaccination campaign from December 16 to 23.

The device was prepared in anticipation of strong public support.

More than two million tests ordered and 1,300 specially deployed sampling centers: the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez (LR) detailed on Thursday the organization of his Covid-19 screening campaign before Christmas.

The operation aims, from December 16 to 23, to "allow all residents who wish to be able to test themselves in order to protect their families" by avoiding the spread of the virus during the holidays, explained the elected official to the press and his partners.

"The vaccine is not for now, far from it, so to support deconfinement, testing yourself, in addition to respecting barrier gestures, is the right reflex", he added.

This campaign was presented in mid-November and the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, then denounced an “announcement effect” of which the competent authorities had not been informed.

Thursday, Laurent Wauquiez assured of his close collaboration with them, repeating that the operation was part of the ministerial decree of November 16 prescribing measures to fight the epidemic.

This text provided for the possibility of collective screening at the initiative of an employer or a community but "within targeted populations" and "in the event of suspicion of a cluster or particularly active circulation of the virus".

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Antigenic tests

The regional executive ordered 2.2 million antigenic tests, favored for their speed, from various laboratories.

PCR tests will also be carried out, mainly to screen high school students.

The results will be recorded in the national database.

Screening, open to all and free, will take place in around 2,600 collection centers, half of which are already operating in laboratories, medical centers, pharmacies and hospitals.

The other 1,300 will be temporarily installed in high schools and learning centers, businesses and administrative services, health establishments and fire and rescue services, as well as in activity areas, supermarkets and train stations;

finally in several hundred municipalities and 40 traveling coaches.

More than 15,000 people will be mobilized, including 4,000 already at work in existing centers, to which will be added in particular the staff of partner laboratories, as well as 1,900 private nurses, 1,500 firefighters and members of the Red Cross.

The community indicates that it has committed 19 million euros to the operation, including 13 for the purchase of tests.

It also relies on the Health Insurance which will reimburse the acts.

The operation was criticized by the mayors of Lyon (EELV) and Villeurbanne (PS), worried about a “risk of overlapping health policies”, the two municipalities having already set up two massive screening centers for several months.

“It would pity me if Lyon were not associated with the operation.

I hope that common sense will return, ”replied Laurent Wauquiez.

It remains to be seen whether the population will actually be there ...

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  • Screening

  • epidemic

  • Laurent Wauquiez

  • Coronavirus

  • Covid 19

  • Health

  • Lyon