Covid-19 tests: in Bagnolet, the laboratory no longer counts its hours

Rue Floréal, on the border between Romainville and Bagnolet. About twenty people wait in front of the ZTP laboratory portal. In the Montreuil -Bagnolet – Romainville – Les Lilas sector, this screening center is one of the few to pass Covid tests after 1 p.m. without an appointment. Of the four cities, only the Municipal Health Centers (CMS) of Romainville, and the Biogroup laboratory in Montreuil do the same. Welcoming patients from 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., the center also opens longer than most of its counterparts.

This is what prompted Affida, 43, to come to be tested here. After calling several analysis centers in Romainville, all saturated, she is in Bagnolet on the advice of… other laboratories. “I need a test quickly because I have recently been in contact with my mother, who is elderly and I have symptoms: I am very tired, I lose my appetite and I have nausea. The other centers recommended that I go there tomorrow, but I went there today because I don’t live far away ”, she explains. More than twenty patients, and it will be his turn.

Fettouma, 68, came to be tested on the advice of her doctor. For her who does not have internet at home, it is difficult to make an appointment. After trying her luck in Romainville and Montreuil last week, she was tested in Bagnolet on Monday. Asymptomatic, the energetic retiree approaches her test calmly: “I really don’t think I am positive. I’m doing the test just to be quiet ”, she smiles at us.

In total, more than 200 people flock to the laboratory in Bagnolet every day. Medium-sized structure, initially specialized in fertility assistance, the analysis center had to quickly adapt to the demands of the pandemic: COVID tests represent between 30 and 40% of its activity according to Jean-Paul Taar, medical biologist.

Four secretaries and an additional laboratory technician were thus recruited in August. Above all, the laboratory has equipped itself with its own test analysis machine, in order to be able to maintain a certain autonomy. Most test centers do in fact take samples without being able to analyze the results themselves, making them dependent on other analysis platforms. Taken on rue Floréal, the samples are analyzed on rue Raymond Lefebvre, less than 1 km away. An organization that allows us to maintain rapid deadlines. “If, in theory, patients are guaranteed to have their results within 48 to 72 hours, they often receive them within 24 hours”, assures us Jérôme Pfeffer, also a medical biologist. Responsible for verifying and communicating the results to positive patients by telephone, he is in the process of calling a patient who has come to be screened 7 hours earlier.

For now, the doctors remain calm. But they clearly measure the second wave. “In August, we had about 3% positive cases. Two weeks ago we were at 10-12%. Now it’s around 15% ”, Mr. Taar tells us. A worrying context, while the two doctors agree to describe a staff exhaustion: “We all work non-stop”, explains Mr. Taar. “It is 5 pm and my colleague has just launched a new test analysis. This means that while waiting for the process to end, I will still be in the lab at least until 9 pm ”, confirms Pfeffer.

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