The movement has already started. In the list of reductions that the government is reciting over the days, relying on “Improvement of the health situation”, now includes screening. From February 28, a single virological test (PCR, antigenic, self-test) will be recommended two days after having been in contact with a positive person, compared to three tests currently (the same day, two days and four days later).
In this climate of a fading fifth wave, the testing strategy is one of the files on the government’s table. For several weeks now, a question has been ringing a little louder: at the time of an Omicron variant whose extreme contagiousness has caused contamination counters to explode but with less severity, does massive screening still have a sense ?
The subject is all the more sensitive as its cost is significant. One billion euros in December for 28 million tests reimbursed by Social Security, according to the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Olivier Dussopt, who spoke in mid-January. For this first month of the year 2022, an expenditure of just over one and a half billion is planned, i.e. the envelope initially provisioned… for the whole of the year.
Should screening recommendations be further reduced, as other countries have done under the Omicron wave? The pace has already slowed down, we see at Medicare. The beginning of January, and its peak at 12 million weekly tests, is moving away. “Over the last fortnight, we have observed a reflux parallel to that of the epidemic, with weeks at 6 to 7 million tests, and the equivalent in volume of self-tests”, explains Thomas Fatôme, director of the National Health Insurance Fund.
Faced with the questions that now focus on the usefulness of testing so much, it does not fail to recall its interest:
“Testing means allowing you to isolate yourself and to be accompanied towards medical care as soon as possible if you are positive, it is relevant to have maintained access to tests without financial or territorial constraints and not to not change position under Omicron. »
“Adapting to the rhythm of the epidemic”
The prioritization of tests for symptomatic people, recommended by the general direction of health at the beginning of January, when we feared the overflow of our capacities, was not necessary. ” The system held upcontinues Thomas Fatôme. There are thoughts at the moment about the “shot after”, and adjustments which are planned for the end of the month, in particular on tests for contact cases, but in the very short term, as long as the circulation of the virus remains very strong, I do not see any change in magnitude taking place. square. »
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