Acceptability of Community Saliva Testing in Controlling the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned from Two Case Studies in Nursing Homes and Schools

Abstract

Benoit Pétré,1,* Marine Paridans,1,* Nicolas Gillain,1 Eddy Husson,1 Anne-Françoise Donneau,1– 3 Nadia Dardenne,1,3 Christophe Breuer,4 Fabienne Michel,2,5 Margaux Dandoy,6 Fabrice Bureau,6,7 Laurent Gillet,6,8,9 Dieudonné Leclercq,1 Michèle Guillaume1,2 1Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 2Risk Assessment Group COVID-19, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 3University and Hospital Biostatistics Center (B-STAT), Faculty of Medicine, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 4Governance Support Unit, Rectorate, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 5Collection and Analysis of Data and Information of Strategic Utility (RADIUS), Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 6Covid-19 Platform, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 7Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, GIGA Institute, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 8Fundamental and Applied Research for Animal and Health (FARAH) Center, Liège University, Liège, Belgium; 9Laboratory of Immunology-Vaccinology, Liège University, Liège, Belgium*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Benoit Pétré, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Liège University, Quartier Hôpital, Avenue Hippocrate 13 (B23), Liège, 4000, Belgium, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]: Current public health debate centers on COVID-19 testing methods and strategies. In some communities, high transmission risk may justify routine testing, and this requires test methods that are safe and efficient for both patients and the administrative or health-care workers administering them. Saliva testing appears to satisfy those criteria. There is, however, little documentation on the acceptability of this method among beneficiaries. This article presents the lessons learned from a pilot study on the use of saliva testing for routine screening of nursing home and secondary school personnel in Wallonia (the French-speaking part of Belgium), conducted in December 2020 to April 2021, respectively. Administrators at the facilities in question seemed to think highly of saliva testing and wished to continue it after the pilot study was over. This result reinforces the criteria (the noninvasive aspect, in particular) supporting a key role for saliva testing in monitoring community spread of the virus. Nevertheless, wider-scale deployment of this particular method will only be possible if the testing strategy as a whole takes a health promotion approach.Keywords: pandemic, COVID-19, community monitoring, preventive health behavior, saliva testing

Keywords

• pandemic – covid 19 – community monitoring - preventive health behavior – saliva testing