70% of schoolchildren in Beauregard screened by saliva tests

It’s not that easy to spit on command. Especially for very young children. This Friday morning, kindergarten and elementary students from Beauregard in Thionville took part in the RT-PCR saliva test campaign against Covid-19 launched this Monday, March 8 in schools in Moselle. This screening is done by collecting, by sputum, at least 1 ml of saliva in a tube.

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Less unpleasant than the swab in the nose

A less invasive and unpleasant technique for children than the swab in the nose Maribel, 9 years old, student of CM1, has just experienced it. “Spitting is really disgusting, especially in front of lots of people watching us…” His comrade Lohan, of the same age, “prefers” this type of test “less painful” than the nasopharyngeal but judges that “it lasts a bit. too long “. Because children produce less saliva than their elders and tend to swallow it directly. The sample can therefore take a little time, 7 minutes on average per pupil.

At the Beauregard school, eight specially trained samplers, school nurses and an anti-Covid mediator are present to support and reassure them. The results are communicated twelve hours after the test by email to the families. In the event of proven positivity, the doctors of National Education with the Regional Health Agency will take the necessary measures, namely: from three positive cases in a class, it closes. Only one case is sufficient if it is the South African variant.

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“Primarily in places where the circulation of the virus has been active”

Out of 186 schoolchildren in the Beauregard establishment, 132 of them, with the consent of their parents, were tested, i.e. an acceptance rate of over 70%. “A number in the departmental average quite satisfactory”, according to Olivier Cottet, academic director present during the operation. Beauregard school is one of the first fourteen establishments to inaugurate this device this week. “We test primarily in places where the circulation of the virus was active before the winter school holidays”, explains the academic director. Massive screening intended to contain the spread of Covid-19 and to prevent epidemic foci of particularly virulent variants such as the British or the South African, the latter being particularly present in the department.

After the schools of Beauregard and Garche, the screening operation will continue in schools in Thionville: in Jacques-Prévert on Tuesday 16 and in Les Coquelicots on Monday 22 March.

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