All the nursing homes in the territory will receive “
by next week
” antigenic tests which reduce the time taken to screen for the coronavirus, the Deputy Minister in charge of Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon, promised Tuesday.
Read also: Coronavirus: large disparities in screening organized by nursing homes
"
By the end of the week or the beginning of next week, all
nursing homes
will be equipped with antigenic tests
," said Bourguignon on the sidelines of a trip to a nursing home in Bobigny, near Paris.
According to her, "
it was necessary
" to "be
able to detect quickly
" and thus "to
avoid clusters which become more dangerous, the second wave (of Covid-19) being very strong
".
Antigenic tests allow a result to be obtained in 15 to 30 minutes compared to several days for PCR tests.
Authorized in early October by the High Authority for Health, they have already been used on an experimental basis in recent weeks for a screening campaign among the staff of 80 nursing homes in Ile-de-France or in the Grand Est region.
"
It is necessary to isolate when there is a case and not to wait, because it can take very quickly in these shared living spaces, to the detriment of residents and caregivers
", added the Minister.
Currently, 550 centers of transmission ("
clusters
") are being investigated in nursing
homes
, a figure that is rising sharply, she said.
The executive meets during health defense councils on Tuesday and Wednesday to take stock of the Covid-19 epidemic and prepare a new turn of the screw of the control measures, which could go as far as a re-containment.
"
There will be decisions concerning nursing homes
", confirmed Ms. Bourguignon, without specifying the scenarios on the table.
However, she pleaded for "
isolating and protecting by not completely closing visitation rights
" to residents.
“
We need graduated, proportionate responses to maintain the right of people to keep social ties with their families, sometimes their caregivers
,” she said.
