Some pharmacies in the North Moselle offer it. All for free. Covid, not Covid? In less than half an hour, the result of the sample falls in the dispensary. Certainly, its reliability would appear to be less important than a PCR test. We are still talking about 100% on positive results, between 85 and 95% on true negatives and between 10 and 15% on false negatives. However, the antigenic test has many advantages. First and foremost, we will have understood the speed of analysis of the liquid collected on the swab in the nose. One thing is certain: this test must take place within four days of the onset of the first symptoms, but asymptomatic symptoms are not excluded.
Professional in Thionville, René-Pierre Clément, president of the Union of trade unions of dispensing pharmacists of the Grand Est, had alerted last November 6 to the ARS on the difficulties of pharmacists to implement such an organization, intended to relieve saturated laboratories. Constraints lifted by the authorities, to allow deployment of the antigen test on a large scale.
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At time T
The principle of detecting the virus in the body at time T is simple. The patient is received with or without a prescription by the professional, in a dedicated place. A sample is taken. And the verdict comes in stride. “We started the device two weeks ago,” says Sébastien Villaume, from the Lion pharmacy. The people who came to see us then needed a test for an examination, an operation, or a consultation with a specialist. Since then, there have been young people. Young people receptive to the message. “
Today, the trend that we observe is a “phase of decline in tests and positive cases”, continues René-Pierre Clément. Which insists on the fact that this type of test makes it possible to “break more quickly the chain of contamination”. And to cite as an example this headmaster of a school with 1,500 students who came to his home in early November to be tested… positive, in five minutes. “Imagine the spread of the virus if he had to wait for a PCR sample on Monday with a result on Wednesday…” In case of doubt, the PCR test comes in support to corroborate the result.
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