To try to spend Christmas with the family in complete safety, many French people plan to be tested before the holidays.

While the Minister of Health Olivier Véran has already warned that a positive test does not constitute an "immunity totem", the infectious disease specialist Alexandre Bleibtreu is skeptical about this rush in the laboratories.

INTERVIEW

As Christmas approaches, many French people intend to be tested before going to celebrate Christmas with their families, while the coronavirus epidemic continues to strike across the country.

The demand is such that on the laboratory side, we fear saturation, and calls to avoid "comfort tests".

Invited from Europe 1, Dr Alexandre Bleibtreu, infectious disease specialist at the Pitié-Salpétrière hospital, is skeptical of this rush towards laboratories.

"For Christmas, we are taking risks", he regrets.  

>> LIVE - 

Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation on Saturday 12 December

First of all, he recalls, it is not because we are tested negative a few days before Christmas that we are certain of not being contaminated on D-day. "These are photographs on a given day. . If you are negative, it may mean that you are indeed negative, or that you are already infected, but in the incubation phase, or that the test is falsely negative, "he explains. 

"We must remember that there are people who do not celebrate Christmas"

Besides, doesn't this strong demand risk overloading the labs for nothing?

"I don't understand", says Alexandre Bleibtreu.

"To save Christmas, we are taking risks and spending public money with these tests, to allow aficionados of turkey with chestnuts to end up at more than six".

Because, he adds, "the majority of people will do it without respecting the government's recommendations."

CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS

> Covid-19 vaccines: what do we really know about their side effects?

> What do we know about "long Covid", these patients who are going through hell?

> These three facets of the coronavirus that you may not have heard of

> When are we in contact?

And other questions that we ask ourselves every day

> Coronavirus: the 5 mistakes not to make with your mask

"It must be remembered that there are people who do not celebrate Christmas, who are alone, who do not have the money, who do not like this holiday, for whom it is not the culture", says again guest from Europe 1. "And we are taking risks to keep this festival going, which for some is religious, but for the majority is more cultural and commercial."

And to conclude: "It is beyond me a bit".