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In France, does the massive screening strategy still make sense? With more than 392,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, many scientists are questioning the cost-effectiveness of this virus surveillance health policy.
Whether antigenic or PCR, in France we have carried out around 230 million tests since the start of the pandemic. Weariness begins to set in with French. “I think everyone is going to have it one day so I don’t know if it’s really worth anything”, retorts a passer-by questioned. The question of mass screening is debated even within the scientific community. “The tests no longer work. When we are at 500,000 cases a day, we can see that it is not working. I think we just have to stop”, thinks Benjamin Rossi, infectious disease doctor.
In Canada, only people at risk are now tested. A decision that other specialists consider premature. However, in France, the budget is exploding: in the first fortnight of January, 24 million tests were carried out for a total of 1.6 billion euros, the amount that the government intended to pay for the entire year. For the moment, no change in strategy is envisaged by the Ministry of Health.