Why Cant a Kid Be Tested Again Before Two Years
Then Yous Think Your Kid Needs a Coronavirus Exam
Here'south everything yous demand to know most when to become it and what to await.
My 4-year-old girl is pretty tough when it comes to medical procedures. The flu shot? Not fifty-fifty a flinch. Stitches in her forehead? No big bargain. Years before, she calmly watched every bit a nurse pricked her finger and squeezed the blood, drop by drop, into a tiny vial to test information technology for lead.
But the coronavirus exam was dissimilar.
In early on September, just before her preschool reopened, she began sneezing and had a sore pharynx. When her congestion worsened, nosotros knew that she needed to go a coronavirus test. But as the nurse approached her, belongings a long stick with a brush on the stop resembling a pipe cleaner, she covered her face up and backed abroad. In the end, ii people had to concord her downwards. She screamed every bit the swab activated her lacrimal reflex, bringing tears to her eyes. It was over rapidly, but she cried for one-half an 60 minutes afterward and insisted that she would never visit another physician again. She at present refers to that probe as "the needle."
In late Dec she needed another test for her preschool, but this fourth dimension she wasn't sick. With the retention of her last experience yet fresh in my mind, I immediately started researching. Were in that location less invasive tests to consider? If so, how would we find one? Would it be authentic enough? And was there an ideal manner to prepare a squeamish young kid who was balky to getting tested?
As it turned out, none of these questions had elementary answers. Then I consulted with five doctors and two of the largest urgent care providers in the United States to larn more.
How do I know if my kid needs a test?
There are 4 chief reasons a child might need to exist tested:
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They accept symptoms
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They have been exposed to someone infected with the virus
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Their school, day care or a hospital requires it
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They need it as a precaution before and after traveling
If your child has whatsoever symptoms of Covid — fifty-fifty mild ones like a runny nose or a sore throat — it's a good idea for them to get tested and stay abode, said Dr. Stanley Spinner, chief medical officer and vice president of Texas Children's Pediatrics, the largest pediatric primary care group in the state, and Texas Children'south Urgent Care.
"We accept seen, time and time again, kids with very balmy symptoms with no known exposures who get tested with our very authentic PCR and sure enough, they come back positive," Dr. Spinner said.
If your kid has been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus — even if your child does not have any symptoms — they should get tested, the experts said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define close contact equally spending at least fifteen minutes within 6 feet of someone who has the coronavirus, or having any type of direct physical contact with an infected person, including kissing or hugging.
If your child is in school or day care, those institutions may have rules on when they must be tested, and how.
Information technology's safest to stay home, but if y'all and your children must travel, the C.D.C. recommends getting tested one to three days before your trip and then again three to five days after your trip.
If you're still unsure if your child needs a examination, call their pediatrician, said Dr. Kristin Moffitt, an infectious disease specialist at Boston Children's Hospital. You can also take the C.D.C.'south clinical assessment tool, which tin can be used for any family member, including children.
Which types of tests are available for kids?
Virus testing for children is, for the nearly part, the same as it is for adults. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the emergency use of two bones categories of diagnostic test. The most sensitive ones are the molecular PCR tests, which detect the genetic textile of the virus and tin can take days to evangelize results (some locations offer results in as lilliputian as a day). The second blazon of exam, the antigen exam, hunts for fragments of proteins that are found on or within the coronavirus. Antigen tests typically yield results quickly, within 15 minutes, but tin be less sensitive than the molecular tests.
The manner your provider collects your sample tin can vary. For instance, regardless of whether y'all go a PCR exam or an antigen exam, the drove method could exist any of the post-obit: nasopharyngeal swab (the long swab with a brush at the end that reaches all the way up the nose toward the pharynx); a shorter swab that is inserted about an inch into the nostrils; a long swab of the tonsils at the back of the throat; or a short swab swizzled on the gums and cheeks. The new saliva tests, which are still being vetted, require you to drool into a sterilized container, which could be difficult for young children.
FastMed Urgent Care, which has a network of more than than 100 clinics in Arizona, N Carolina and Texas, currently uses a long swab to perform the rapid antigen exam and a short swab for the PCR exam, said Dr. Lane Tassin, 1 of the company'southward chief medical officers. But MedExpress, a different urgent care group with clinics in 16 states, tests all patients with the shorter nasal swab when doing either PCR or antigen tests at its nigh 200 urgent care centers, said Jane Trombetta, the company'southward principal clinical officer.
Which diagnostic exam should my child become?
The type of test that your child gets volition largely depend on what is available in your area, how long information technology takes to get the results back and why the child needs it, the experts said.
Some day intendance centers and schools will only accept PCR results for clearance to return to school, then it is best to double bank check their rules beforehand.
The long-swab molecular test is considered the "gold standard," merely other less-invasive testing methods are besides reliable. For routine testing, Dr. Jay Thou. Varma, senior advisor for public health at the Role of the Mayor of New York City, said the shorter swab "performs basically likewise as the longer, deeper swab does. That's true in both adults and children." In fact, he added, New York Urban center'southward public infirmary testing sites began switching from the long swab to the brusque swab during the summertime.
Dr. Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone Health, said she likes the antigen tests because they can rapidly identify infected kids when they are contagious. Antigen tests are most accurate when the corporeality of virus in the sample is highest — typically around the twenty-four hour period that symptoms start.
If you have a preference on which test you'd like your child to go, call your pediatrician's office outset and inquire what kinds of tests they perform and how they collect the samples. Clarify whether they use the shallow (anterior) swab or the long (nasopharyngeal) swab. If y'all want the more comfortable, shallow PCR test but your pediatrician'south office does not offer it, try other testing centers in your area, including pediatric urgent care centers.
Some tests are now available for abode use. Simply if you're using a home test, check the label. Some aren't indicated for children.
Are there any downsides to getting my kid tested? Is it prophylactic?
Many testing sites offer drive-through services where you don't need to leave your car. Just if yous must walk into a clinic, the experts I spoke with said that the risk of getting Covid while y'all're there is low.
"In my experience, everyone that is delivering wellness care now is being incredibly careful with infection control," said Dr. Sean O'Leary, the vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infectious diseases. "The risk of going into a health care facility is probably pretty low relative to a lot of the other things people are currently engaging in in the U.Southward."
Testing facilities crave people to wear masks and to maintain concrete distancing, he added.
The experts also said that the tests themselves are not harmful for young children, including infants, even if done repeatedly. The long swab may produce discomfort for a brief menstruum — Dr. O'Leary jokingly calls it the "encephalon biopsy" — just he is non enlightened of whatsoever long-term risk to the nose or throat.
How can I prepare my child for the test?
To avert any surprises, enquire your provider about which types of tests they offer and how they collect the samples ahead of fourth dimension.
It's unremarkably best to exist straightforward with your kid about what to expect. For short nasal swabs, explain that a doctor will tickle the inside of their nose with a cotton swab to collect their boogers, and that it won't hurt.
For the long swab, you may desire to ready your child by explaining that the swab might experience a little uncomfortable, but that it will exist over rapidly. You can also share that kids of all ages are getting the test, even babies.
Over all, convey that it'south no large deal and it's something that simply needs to get done, Dr. Lighter said.
"Kids are only every bit anxious every bit the data that's coming to them," she added.
If your child might be intimidated by the protective gowns, masks and face up shields that health providers wear, explain that they wear that clothing to stay rubber — kind of similar how people wear textile masks when they go outside.
Some hospitals take created videos like this one from the Children's Hospital Colorado that prove how the coronavirus test works and what families tin can expect. If your kid is quondam enough to empathise, it might be helpful to lookout a video like this together and and so talk about it subsequently.
Effort to observe out how long you might demand to await. Many areas have long lines at testing sites, and so consider bringing water, snacks and amusement (crayons, storybooks) for your kids.
If your child's pediatrician is administering coronavirus tests, information technology might exist reassuring for your child to have the test performed by someone they are already familiar with. But if not, "try and go somewhere that has experience working with children," Dr. O'Leary said. Doctors and nurses who test children regularly will virtually likely know what to do if your child is nervous or scared.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/parenting/kids-test-covid.html
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