Will this test definitely mark the return of dancers to the slopes of French nightclubs? Clubbers without masks and air sensors: a test evening was held for several hours on Sunday in a Parisian club to assess the risk of transmission of Covid-19 between vaccinated people in a closed place.
The project called “Come back at night”, which had been postponed at the end of June for lack of volunteers, is being carried out by the research agency ANRS / Emerging infectious diseases. The results of the study should be known towards the end of the year.
Participants aged 18 to 49
Although the nightclubs have already reopened on July 9 to people with the health pass and with a 75% gauge, this test “will answer the question of whether there is transmission of the Covid between vaccinated in closed places” , said infectious disease specialist Jérémy Zeggagh, one of the three “investigators” of the project.
In the “La Machine du Moulin Rouge” club, adjacent to the legendary cabaret, clubbers danced to the rhythm of the music of DJs Roni and Rag; couples hug, kiss, have a drink on sofas not far from the dance floor. The organizers had announced that they wanted to recruit 4,400 fully vaccinated volunteers, aged 18 to 49, without a risk factor for a severe form of Covid-19 and living in Île-de-France. The number of participants in Sunday’s test was not immediately available.
One group inside, another outside
Upon their arrival, the participants handed in a sample of their saliva which will be compared with another sample which they will have to submit seven days later. And in the club, three air sensors were installed. “We will try to” match “the viruses of the participants and the viruses in the air to find out if people have been infected in the club,” said Jérémy Zeggagh. Clubbers are not the only participants: the ANRS asked another group to refrain from going to a club to also compare the number of cases of infected people between the two groups.
“Our hypothesis is that closed places are not risk factors for overpopagation between vaccinated people”, especially indicated the infectious disease specialist. We will have to wait until the end of the year to find out if this test proves him right.