Benjamin Rossi, infectious disease specialist at the Ballanger hospital in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), “born [comprend] not why the government persists in these testing policies against Covid-19, which are excessively expensive “, he said on franceinfo on Friday, January 7. For him, it is millions of euros that “are not invested in infrastructure and research centers”. On Thursday, the government notably made the decision that it would no longer be compulsory to do a PCR test after a positive antigen, in order to relieve the congestion of screening centers, laboratories and pharmacies.
franceinfo: Is the strategy put in place in recent days the right one to fight against the virus?
Benjamin Rossi: Since the start of this pandemic, we have wanted to implement a contact tracing strategy to try to stem the epidemic waves. It which is theoretically interesting but it was put in default and it was necessary to have recourse, when we wanted to reduce the number of cases, to different methods of confinement which are the only efficient ones. With Omicron, it is even more convincing because it is one of the most contagious microorganisms that exists. I do not understand why the government persists in these testing policies which are excessively expensive, because they cost society millions of euros per day. These millions of euros are not invested in infrastructure and research centers. Instead, we make testing policies that have very little interest. There is a strategy to be rethought on the part of the government.
What strategy should we put in place?
Restrictive measures had to be decided ten days ago. We still had a chance to calm the peak, expected in a week to ten days for France. But they have not been decided and now we will not succeed. When people are immune or infected, the peak will go down again, but it is too late to break the chains of contamination. What you have to see is what will happen at the hospital level. We know that Omicron is less dangerous than the other variants, we are dealing with a massively vaccinated population and the few unvaccinated people have had Covid-19 for many. We are therefore largely immune. We are doing less serious forms but there is bound to be an impact on the hospital and it is the only place where we have not put resources since the start of the epidemic. As soon as lasting solutions are needed, the politicians do not do them and only provide sudden solutions. These testing policies are quick fixes.
What should be done to avoid engorgement?
Having a vaccination is a good thing. If we really see that we are having a very significant impact at the hospital level, we will have to take slightly more severe restrictive measures. For the moment, we are overwhelmed but it is also linked to bed closures. You have to be careful, respect the barrier measures and put on the mask outside. If we wanted to stem the chains of contamination, we would have to resort to heavier measures, but which I do not call. I’m a little worried about our pediatric services because Omicron can take on more patients. Mathematically, there are more children in the hospital because Omicron is less severe in adults but also severe in children. Suddenly, that’s a higher percentage of pediatric Covid patients.