Screening operation at the Mutualité school in Nantes, March 11, 2021 -

J. Urbach / 20 Minutes

  • Saliva tests are gradually being deployed in schools, and since Thursday in Nantes.

  • The reactions of children are varied, while some find it difficult to submit to this sample, which is less feared than the nasopharyngeal.

"I like to spit, I find it too funny!"

»This Thursday afternoon, Lilya is not at all stressed, on the contrary.

Like the majority of her comrades, the girl of "almost 9 years old" is preparing to take a Covid test carried out in her school, the school of Mutualité district Chantenay in Nantes.

Here, no scary swab that comes close to the nostrils but a small plastic tube to fill with saliva.

“It was funny, I even made a thread,” says Maya, in CE1.

"It's still a little yucky, but it doesn't hurt at all", continues a small brown, a white mask on his nose.

In a large room adjoining the playground, some 300 children follow one another all day long to undergo these famous saliva tests, which are gradually being deployed in nursery and primary schools in France, and since Thursday in two schools in Nantes.

At the Mutualité, three-quarters of parents wanted to register their child for this PCR test, the result of which will be available online within 24 hours after the laboratory analysis.

“I don't want to catch the Covid, imagine if it's serious after you go to the hospital, worries Lisa, in CE2.

It's horrible if you can't see your girlfriends anymore.

I already miss my grandparents… ”

Screening operation at the Mutualité school in Nantes, March 11, 2021 - J. Urbach / 20 Minutes

"Think of fries"

It is 3 p.m. and like every quarter of an hour, the team of eight Civil Protection mediators is preparing to welcome a new class.

As tall as three apples, the students of CP do not lead off in front of these masked strangers, gloved, and equipped with big glasses… “We must reassure them, ask them if they understood well why they were there, entrusts Anne Prunault. , the nurse who supervises the day's operations.

They must also be encouraged, because some are putting pressure on themselves.

"

The pairs are formed and are distributed in the room.

We exchange first names, a few kind words and let's go… or not.

"Think of fries, chocolate, something you like to eat!"

Suggests a mediator to a little boy, who painfully turns his tongue in his mouth.

Often, it takes several attempts for the saliva to be secreted and collected in sufficient quantity (between 0.5 and 1 ml) to be analyzed.

“But sometimes, we can't do it, for example, some people have a dry mouth due to stress,” notes Anne Prunault.

If it is too difficult, do not insist, the experience should in no way be traumatic for them.

"

For Jean-Baptiste Defaux, president of the Biolam laboratory, the saliva test is in any case "the perfect balance between the sampling method, better accepted by children, the sensitivity of the test, admittedly lower than the nasopharyngeal but much better than the test antigenic, and the scale of the operation ”.

Next week, schools in Châteaubriant were targeted, due to a high incidence rate in the territory.

The objective in Loire-Atlantique is to carry out 8,000 weekly tests.

Health

Coronavirus: "In mass screening, saliva tests are very interesting" according to a virologist

Society

Coronavirus: 1,700 students will be recruited to help with saliva tests in schools

  • Child

  • school

  • Screening

  • Covid 19

  • Society

  • Nantes

  • Coronavirus