to think so few children are testing positive because the tests aren't done correctly?

[Lottle]

My son and I started with symptoms on the same day. I tested positive. He tested negative. My husband struggled to do the test properly (1 second at the back of the throat and 1 second up the nose). He's a typical under 2 who wasn't having any of it. We also couldn't blow his nose before starting in line with the guidance (what toddler can blow their nose?)

Now I don't think nursery can take action even though he clearly has it.

I worry this is being replicated across the country.

Anyone else thinking the same?

YABU - testing is fine, children simply aren't likely to have it
YANBU - the testing system needs looking at

There is no way on this godly earth I could do that test on my toddler.

my two youngest age 1q and 4 were tested.
Neither were done properly for different reasons

YANBU. I’m dreading my 20 month old requiring a test! They really need to get a saliva test ASAP.

Unlikely to be false negative as you need a certain amount of viral material to get a result - otherwise it will be inconclusive. More likely to get a false positive!

YANBU!

I had to swap my kids and I was completely expecting inconclusive results as there’s no way I done it right. However they did come back negative.

I think that if the test wasn't done properly (i.e. not enough sample collected) then the result would come back as inconclusive, not negative.

It's possible that this is a false negative, or it's also possible that your DS just has a cold and not coronavirus.

I don't believe that all the evidence that young children are less likely to get it than adults is just due to faulty testing.

My understanding is that the test can come back inconclusive if not administered correctly

Yes I was "hoping" for inconclusive rather than negative but there the test says "you did not have coronavirus when the test was done". It is one heck of a coincidence that we both start with something different on the same day....What worries me is if I didn't have symptoms, he'd be back to nursery on Monday....I feel so sorry for childcare workers. I really hope I'm wrong in my suspicions.

With children, you are supposed to do two swabs up the nose, not the throat. They should have explained that and given you the booklet for children (maybe you didn’t read it?).

I tried testing my seven year old and he had a panic attack. It was horrific. I’m sure many children being tested are not being tested correctly or at all.

@mindutopia

With children, you are supposed to do two swabs up the nose, not the throat. They should have explained that and given you the booklet for children (maybe you didn’t read it?).

Yes that's what we were planning on doing. We were at a walk in centre and mum husband said this. The guy went to check and his supervisor said he wanted him to do the back of the throat so that's what my husband did.

Partly that and partly not wanting to take their children for unpleasant testing that will not impact on their care.

*my husband

With under 11 year old you can do two nostril swabs. I wasn’t given a booklet for children but they explained it and I had watched the nhs video on it in prep. I had to do it on my 14 month old and 4 yr old and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

DH test came back inconclusive and he had to have another test.

Don’t make assumptions @mindutopia

I was fully aware two nasal swabs could be done. I was advised at the test site that a throat swab and a nasal swab was best but some children struggle so two nasal swabs are ok but much less accurate. This can also lead to false negatives.

That being said my son wouldn’t let me near him at all and really panicked, despite me explaining everything calmly, watching videos of kids tests before we left, being patient, using bribes (!!)

God I'm so glad that here in Ireland we go to a drive through test centre!! I couldn't do that myself!! 😭

@kittykat35
I’m in England and my drive through is DIY

@mindutopia

With children, you are supposed to do two swabs up the nose, not the throat. They should have explained that and given you the booklet for children (maybe you didn’t read it?).

I had my kids done and they said try with the throat but do the nose twice if they protested (age 4 and 7) As it happened they both hated nose more than throat.

I don’t think many of the self administered tests are being done well, children or adults.

I was at hospital two weeks ago and I had a nurse give me a test. It literally felt like she was going to poke my brain out with the nasal swabs she went so far back. I had to really concentrate on my breathing just to get through it and although I’m glad I had it done it wasn’t pleasant at all. It was negative by the way.

My husband had a drive through self administered test this week - I was with him when he did it - and there was no way he pushed the stick as far as the nurse did when she did it to me...! And he really was trying his best to do it properly. He also only had to do one nostril with the same swab he’d already used in his throat - at hospital they used a different one for each area, so 3 in total. Husbands test also came back negative.

I think there is a lot of room for error with all these things.

I’ve heard from medics that that this is the case that tests in children are not well administered.

Hope you're feeling OK OP!

I've read that the quality of the test doesn't really matter that much in terms of the result (I had the same worry with DS, though he's older than yours). Tests done "properly" by healthcare workers, and those done by patients, or parents on children generally got the same positive/ negative result. You would only need to have got a tiny bit of virus on the swab to be caught by the PCR, which you should have managed even with a second in the throat and up the nose. And as you managed both, that's even better! (With children you can do both nostrils instead of the throat, but if you can do the throat that's thought to be better). The more virus, the quicker the test would have picked up a positive result, but they cycle it round so many times that even a tiny bit would show up if he had it.

There's a summary of the "children are less likely to catch it" research here which is reassuring, to me. And it covers the issue of "inexpert" testing and unwilling patients!

Nhs staff around here go to a different testing centre to the general public. Trained nurses administer the test. It's just a throat one. They really make you gag and are super careful not to let the 'cotton bud' touch your tongue / inside of your mouth. Yet I see them done on a ward by nurses in a totally different way on patients. And how they expect parents to do the test correctly to their own child is beyond me. There is no way I could do the test to myself or my child in the same way they test me. I am therefore very dubious about most negative results. I think it is generally accepted within the hospital that false negatives are around 30% anyway.

I just wonder about the rate if false negatives in general tbh. I started with ‘symptoms’ (of a cold) a day or two before my son, he developed a cough so we ended up going for a test. I did my test myself and his test exactly the same way I did mine. I got a positive and him a negative, he's around me everyday, I find it hard to believe I’ve got/had it and he hasn’t. There was another thread on here where a doctor commented about the false negative rate being around 30% compared to 0.5% false positives, thats a really high false negative rate. My cousin is a nurse and said she thinks its highly likely my sons result was a false negative, I’d be really interested in whether he has antibodies but thats currently not being tested for in the general public.

In Aus (nsw) they will only do throat swab samples for children under 10 because children don’t carry a large viral load in their nose apparently and you get a more reliable result from throat swabs.

YANBU

I had one done yesterday and it was the most painful procedure I’ve had done since having children and that is no exaggeration. My nose still hurts and is painful to the touch of you touch it on the outside.

My dc is in hospital and I sat and watched her test being done. Completely different. I’m not surprisingly as I doubt very much they’d be able to do what they did to me without pinning a screaming child down.