If you are still not sure if your child needs a test, call their pediatrician, says dr. Kristin Moffitt, a specialist in infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital. You can also use the CDC’s clinical assessment tool, which can be used for any family member, including children.
What types of tests are available for children?
Virus testing for children is mostly the same as for adults. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the emergency use of two basic categories of diagnostic tests. The most sensitive is the molecular PCR tests, which detects the genetic material of the virus and can take days to produce results (some sites provide results in just one day). The second type of test, the antigen test, hunts for fragments of proteins found on or within the coronavirus. Antigen tests usually yield results quickly within 15 minutes, but may be less sensitive than the molecular tests.
The way your supplier collects your sample may vary. Whether you get a PCR test or an antigen test, the collection method can be the following, for example: nasopharyngeal swab (the long swab with a brush at the end that extends to the nose in the direction of the throat) ; a shorter swab that is placed about an inch into the nostrils; a long swab of the tonsils at the back of the throat; or swung a short swab on the gums and cheeks. The new saliva tests, which are still being investigated, require you to drool in a sterilized container, which can be difficult for young children.
FastMed Urgent Care, which has a network of more than 100 clinics in Arizona, North Carolina and Texas, is currently using a long swab to perform the rapid antigen test and a short swab for the PCR test, Dr. Lane Tassin said. one of the chief medical officers of the company. But MedExpress, another urgent care group with clinics in 16 states, tests all patients with the shorter nose swab when they do PCR or antigen tests in its nearly 200 urgent care centers, said Jane Trombetta, chief clinical officer of the company.
What diagnostic test should my child get?
The type of test your child gets depends largely on what is available in your area, how long it takes to get the results back, and why the child needs it, experts said.
Some day care centers and schools only accept PCR results for approval to return to school, so it is best to check their rules beforehand.
The long-swapper molecular test is considered the ‘gold standard’, but other less invasive testing methods are also reliable. Dr. Jay K. Varma, senior public health adviser at the New York City mayor’s office, said the shorter swab “performs just as well as the longer, deeper swab does. This is true in adults and children. In fact, he added, New York City public hospital test centers began switching from the long swimmer to the short swimmer during the summer.