is massive screening really necessary?

Should we continue to do so many tests, or should we let the virus take its course? This surprising question is growing in popularity, and some virologists say mass screening is no longer necessary. “Omicron is everywhere today, so testing all the time, for me, [ce] is no longer necessarily very interesting at the virological level “, explains Vincent Enouf, deputy director of the National Reference Center for Respiratory Infections at the Institut Pasteur.

Emergency physicians do not agree, and continue to argue that screening is very necessary, at least to assess the evolution of the virus and its new variant. “Being able to test patients remains an important tool in terms of tracing the evolution of the epidemic, at the level of the population”, says Emmanuelle Seris, spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians of France.