Why I had my kids tested for COVID-19

Why I tested my kids for COVID-19

Last week I decided to have my 13 year old daughter and 15 year old son tested for COVID-19. I have previously written about Coronavirus for pregnant and women and those with young children. I really wanted to write about the reasons why I tested my kids for COVID-19.

My son had been displaying hay fever symptoms on and off for a number of weeks. He never had a fever, sore throat or headache. He just had a cough and a runny nose both which would come and go. Over the weeks I have been checking the criteria for testing for COVID-19 and now the government has widened the testing criteria.

My son had been sent to his school's health centre at the end of March because of his cough. He had his temperature taken, but it was normal. Last week my daughter had a headache and low grade temperature after having a Meningococcal B vaccine the previous day. That same day my son had come home from online learning at school and said that one of the librarians supervising him was looking suspiciously when he coughed.

The Process of Testing my Kids for COVID-19

It was very easy to have my children tested for COVID-19. We just presented at a dedicated COVID-19 clinic; we all sanitised our hands and put on a face mask provided. The kids were asked about their symptoms to determine if they needed to be tested. Our details were taken at 3 separate points.

My kids temperature was taken before the swab testing. The COVID-19 test uses a swab with one side of the swab used to swab the throat (oropharyngeal ) swab. This will take samples from around the tonsils and the back of the throat. The other side of the swab is placed up each nostril (nasopharyngeal) about 9cm for approximately 5 seconds to collect samples of mucus. The swabs were then placed in a tube and sent to the lab for testing.

It only took less than 40 minutes to go through the whole process to have both kids tested. We were finished before 6pm and received the NEGATIVE results via text message less than 18 hours later.

COVID-19 swab test

When should you get tested for COVID-19

If you have any of the symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild, you should seek advice and get tested.

The symptoms to watch out for are:

  • Fever
  • Chills or sweats
  • Cough
  • Sore throat
  • Shortness of breath
  • Runny nose
  • Loss of sense of smell

Less commonly, headache, muscle soreness, stuffy nose, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea have also been reported.

Increased Testing for COVID-19

While the number of COVID-19 cases is low in Australia, there is still a chance that the virus is present but undetected in the community. There are also very few children and especially teenagers that have been tested for COVID-19. By increasing the testing for COVID-19, we can better track the spread of this virus.

The increase in testing will provide a clearer picture of how the virus has spread in Australia. It will also inform any potential easing of restrictions once the State of Emergency is reviewed by 11 May 2020. COVID-19 testing in Australia by State is detailed in the table below.

COVID-19 testing in Australia

COVID-19 testing in Australia by State

Testing throughout the community, including those who are asymptomatic (show few or no symptoms) helps to determine whether positive cases are going undetected. Case on point is South Australia where, as at 3 May 2020, had recorded no new cases of Coronavirus for the 10th day in a row. 60,000 tests have been conducted by SA Pathology since February. This represents over 3.3% of South Australia's population.

South Australia announced on Saturday that 98 per cent of people have now recovered from COVID-19. In total, there have been 438 cases in SA but only seven of these remain active.

Telethon Kids Institute

The Telethon Kids Institute is home to some of the world’s best researchers. These researches are internationally recognised experts in clinical trials, infectious diseases, epidemiology, respiratory and public health.

The Western Australian State Government is partnering with the Telethon Kids Institute to better understand the risk and transmission of COVID-19 in schools, so we can ensure they continue to be a safe environment for staff and students.

The study will comprise 3 projects:

1. School-Based COVID-19 Asymptomatic Testing

Soon more schools will be testing for COVID-19. School-based COVID-19 asymptomatic testing project is designed to provide immediate evidence of asymptomatic infection, if any in Western Australian schools. The evidence will help the government’s policy making when it comes to schools.

Random sampling of consenting staff and students across 80 representative public schools, educational support centres and residential colleges in Western Australia will be carried out on a monthly basis, for up to 6 months, via non-invasive nasal and throat swabs.

2. Tracking Transmission in Schools

If at any stage a case of COVID-19 is detected within a school anywhere in Western Australia, in addition to standard Public Health and Department of Education responses, testing protocols within that school will increase immediately. Any contacts of the positive case (classmates, teachers etc) will undergo two or three COVID-19 tests spread over two weeks, irrespective of their symptoms. Each contact will be required to maintain a daily symptom diary.

By doing this, the study will gain insight into the role, if any, that schools play in the transmission of COVID-19 – student to student, between students and staff, and the wider community via household members and other non-school contacts. This protocol will help to better understand and ultimately prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in a school environment.

3. Psycho-social Impact of COVID-19

It's important to note that the research will also focus on identifying the emerging psycho-social impact of COVID-19 on Western Australian children, their families and staff.

The study will look to provide an understanding of:

(i) how the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting social interventions are impacting the physical, social, and emotional well being (for example sleep, anxiety, loneliness, and physical activity);

(ii) the level of perceived risk of COVID-19 infection experienced by students, their teachers, and parents;

(iii) how the COVID-19 social interventions are impacting students’ education and learning and the schools’ operations; and

(iv) how students, school staff and parents feel about the COVID-19 testing.

Data will be collected via a 15-minute survey from:

  • students in Years 4-12, their teachers and parents,
  • Kindergarten to Year 3 parents and teachers, and
  • principals and / or members of each school’s executive team.

Surveys will be designed to reflect different developmental capabilities and educational settings across the year groups.

The research provides valuable insight into impact COVID-19 is having right now on the physical, social and emotional well being of our children and community. Importantly, it will assist in developing strategies to address long-term mental health and well being.

COVIDSafe App

COVIDSafe App Australia

The COVIDSafe app is part of the Health Department's work to slow the spread of COVID-19. The app maintains a log of blue-tooth connections a person’s phone makes with the phones of those they have come into contact with for at least 15 minutes. This makes it easier for health authorities to trace potential COVID-19 carriers in the case of a positive diagnosis.

21 days of data of people you have come into contact with will be stored and held on your phone in that time. The data is only uploaded to a government server, housed in Australia and run by Amazon, in the event that you test positive for COVID-19, and even then you need to consent for your log to be uploaded to the server. It is only at this stage that Health officials in each state and territory will then be able to access the list of contacts. These contacts can then be called and informed that they need to isolate and get tested.

The app provides confidence the health department can find and contain outbreaks quickly. This means the government can ease restrictions while still keeping Australians safe.

The new COVIDSafe app is completely voluntary and you don't even need to use your real name to register. Downloading the app is something you can do to protect you, your family and friends and save the lives of other Australians. The more Australians connect to the COVIDSafe app, the quicker we can have certain restrictions eased.

How can I download the COVIDSafe App?

If you search for “COVIDSafe” on the Apple App Store, or on Google Play on your phone to download the app.

Once downloaded, you will need to open the app and register your details.

You will need to enter the following: – Mobile phone number

– so you can be contacted if contact tracing is required.

– Name – so the relevant health officials can confirm they are speaking to the right person, you can use a fake name if you want.

– Age range – so health officials can prioritise cases for contact tracing.

– Postcode

– to make sure health officials from the your State and Territory are dealing with your case.

Global Response

The World Health Organisation is advocating for exchange and use of information between contact tracing apps as part of the global virus response. There have also been reports from Apple and Google indicating contact tracing will soon be built into your phone’s operating system.

There are many tracing apps being used or under development in other countries all over the world. These include New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, South Korea and India to name a few. In China the tracing app is mandatory. It is tied to your identification and dictates where you can go using QR code scanners and colours to determine whether a person identified is clear (green), amber (needs to isolate) or red (a confirmed case or close contact of a confirmed case). As you can see Australia is not unique in developing contact tracing technology and in my opinion is not "Big Brotherish" like China's tracing app!

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