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Rapid tests in schools, it is accelerated. The follow-up phase is still underway, but the results are encouraging and by the end of the month the Ministry of Health should give the green light at the national level. Let us proceed judiciously and gradually, repeats Roberto Speranza, who today will talk with some EU health ministers about the effectiveness of rapid diagnostic tests.
Experimentation
In Italy, the experimentation of this type of swab, which detects the presence of the virus through viral proteins (antigen), began two weeks ago in ports and airports. The results are good and the Ministry is satisfied, because rapid tests, which do not require laboratory equipment, can be a valuable tool for the safe restart of the school system. The Minister of Education, Lucía Azzolina, considers the speed of response to the tests important. And also Favorable Hope. They are a piece of our strategy for the fall, the minister repeats in confidential meetings, in which he recommends caution while waiting for the follow-up data to be consolidated.
The projection
The screening of teachers, staff and students would be much faster and, in the case of a positive student or teacher, it would avoid paralyzing an entire class and conditioning the work of many parents: the traditional swab would only be done in the case of a test quick positive. The sensitive issue is the reliability with respect to the nasopharyngeal swab that detects the RNA of the virus, since the sensitivity of the rapid tests, which can give a response in less than half an hour, is around 85%. Or rather, these were the data when the experimentation began.
The report
In the report of the Higher Institute of Health entitled Operational indications for the management of cases and outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in schools (here the full text), we read that rapid diagnostic tests are in continuous technological evolution to improve their performance . Scientists predict that sensitivity will soon increase and these tests, once validated, may make an essential contribution to controlling virus transmission. At that point, the Ministry of Health will give the green light and we will begin to talk about procurement tenders, whose competition in times of Covid by the extraordinary commissioner Domenico Arcuri.
The regions
Meanwhile, for the Regions they organize themselves, each one for himself. Veneto and Lazio will use rapid tests for screening in schools. In Liguria, Giovanni Toti also accelerates: We work to go beyond the national protocol. We will define standards so that tamponade and screening can be done quickly and conveniently for families. There are no tampons at home for children with suspicious symptoms, but special areas, accessible without reservation. And in Lazio, where about 17 thousand serological tests have already been carried out in schools, there are two thousand quick swabs performed at the Fiumicino airport and 16 positives have been identified.
Parents
September 14 is approaching and parental anxiety grows. Azzolina in the Council of Ministers yesterday again proposed the problem of parents forced into quarantine for having a positive child and Minister Catalfo (Labor) promised an ad hoc rule. Azzolina will launch a new call to use Immuni, even for students aged 14 and over. For the minister, the important application to better track and quickly circumscribe infections and possible outbreaks. Mass selection of teachers is another piece of the government’s strategy. The serological tests had begun amid controversy and organizational problems, but now thousands of teachers, professors and ATA staff would submit to the controls with a sense of responsibility.
September 4, 2020 (change September 4, 2020 | 07:27)
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