CORSER-2 group. This is the name of the second phase of the epidemiological study of the Institut Pasteur in Crépy-en-Valois in the Oise. This time, it is children from 5 to 12 years old, schooled in the commune, and their parents who are targeted, after having tested 661 people linked to the Jean Monnet high school from March 30 to April 3, an establishment close to that where was professor the first French victim of the coronavirus.
The Institut Pasteur thus hopes “know the impact and spread of the coronavirus“on the youngest. This new health survey will take place from Tuesday 28 to Thursday 30 April on the Passerelle site in Crépy-en-Valois.
An email was therefore sent to all parents with a child attending one of the 6 elementary schools in Crépy-en-Valois. In copy, several documents explaining why a new study is being conducted and how it will be. Explanations for adults but also for the youngest likely to participate in this survey. A participation which is not compulsory.“You are completely free to refuse to participate in this study. You have the right to think about your decision”, recalls the letter addressed to the children. A glossary of the main terms that will be heard during this study, such as “sero-epidemiological study” or “person suspected of infection”, has even been added to the backgrounders.
Blood sample
Concretely, the volunteers will first meet with an investigative doctor to assess their state of health since the beginning of February. Then a blood sample, which will fill a 5 ml tube, will be taken. Once analyzed, it will reveal or not the presence of antibodies to the Covid-19 coronavirus. All information collected will remain confidential. Only the research team will know the full names of the participants, which will be replaced by an encrypted code on the tube and the documents.
But not all of the blood collected will be used for this study. The remaining volume will be frozen and kept in collection in a biotheque. This collection of blood samples will be open to the scientific community for research into the virus and immunity to SARS-CoV-2, or even related viruses or co-infections. The samples can therefore “be transmitted to other scientists at the Institut Pasteur or other laboratories in France or abroad conducting research on the coronavirus”, says the Institut Pasteur. Although by participating in this study, you de facto accept the collection of your blood, you can nevertheless express your opposition to its conservation during your interview with the investigating doctor.
Allow to “refine the deconfinement strategy”
The Institut Pasteur thus hopes “assess the percentage of children who have been infected with the coronavirus” and understand “to what extent children of this age may have passed the disease on to their parents” and “better understand [leur] contribution in the transmission of the virus “. And to clarify that “This information is essential to refine the deconfinement strategy that will be implemented in France from May 11”.
In total, the Institut Pasteur hopes to collect a blood sample of around 200 people. A calendar has been set up for each school and each class in Crépy-en-Valois. The first children expected are those of Jean Cocteau elementary school and those of Gaston Ramon on Tuesday, April 28. The next day, it will be the turn of the students of Jean Vassal and Charles Péguy. The André Malraux and Sainte Marie schools will close the investigation.
A first survey of high school students
Since the end of March, the Institut Pasteur has focused its sero-epidemiological studies on the population of Crépy-en-Valois because this commune of Oise was the first major focus of the Covid-19 epidemic in France.
The investigations of the researchers of the Institut Pasteur carried out from March 30 to April 3 on pupils schooled in a neighboring establishment – the Lycée Jean-Monnet – and the people with whom they came into contact, showed that 41% of the people attending l he establishment were infected with Covid-19 but in families the virus has spread less: only 11% of relatives have been infected.
A recommendation from the Scientific Council
On Saturday April 25, the Scientific Council made public its recommendations concerning the reopening of schools from May 11. He notes that“there has been no documented epidemic in kindergartens, schools, colleges, high schools and universities to date” except the epidemiologist study at the Crépy-en-Valois high school. In the opinion of the Scientific Council, “In anticipation of the reopening of schools, and in order to assess the epidemic potential associated with this reopening, it seems urgent to retrospectively study the circulation of the virus in children during the first epidemic wave”. He proposes to set up serological studies in schools as planned from April 30 to April 3 in all elementary schools in Crépy-en-Valois.-
