INMESO-CovidStudy of the Effect of Systematic Screening of Residents and Caregivers by Nasopharyngeal Swab (RT-PCR) on the Incidence Rate of COVID-19 Infection in Medico-social Institutions for the Elderly

The current COVID-19 epidemic has overwhelmed the health systems of many countries in which it has broken out, forcing various governments to institute population containment measures. Residents of medico-social institutions for the elderly are particularly at risk of developing severe forms because they have a large number of factors favoring the progression to a severe form (very advanced age, multiple comorbidities, dependence in activities of dayli life). The specificity and positive predictive value of clinical signs are not very important in this population; which makes the diagnosis even more complicated. One of the strategies to try to protect these residents, in addition to room containment and clinical surveillance, would be to carry out a systematic screening campaign of all residents and all caregivers, then to consider reorganizing the establishments with a sector "COVID +". This was announced by the French Minister of Health Olivier VERAN on 04/06/2020 from the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in an institution. However, asymptomatic subjects may have a "negative" RT-PCR test at one point but which is positive in the following days. And in this interval they would still be contagious. It is therefore not excluded that the implementation of such a screening campaign will not be effective in reducing the number of new cases of COVID-19 in medico-social institutions for the elderly