Will the test be invalid?

[Totallydefeated]

DD5 has been off school since developing a cold over the weekend, which turned into a bit of a cough on Monday.

Finally got the home test kit today and tested her, but she freaked out and grabbed the one and only swab they gave us in the kit.

Will the test be invalid? We did get a good swab of her throat and nose first. Please tell me no, I'm at the end of my rope having to work again with her at home, and wondering if we can see parents over Christmas.

Also, does anyone know why they only send one swab when it's for a young child who's quite likely to not follow the instructions not to touch teeth, etc?

We've done three tests for our toddler; still waiting on results for the most recent but the other two of them came back negative despite us feeling we'd done a pretty crap job of doing the swab every time (we'd really tried our best, but it's so hard to do on a 2 year old). I was convinced they'd come back as invalid, but I think they must have a pretty wide margin of error from the 'ideal' way of doing them, as otherwise getting people to do them themselves would just be such a non-starter and the vast majority would come back as not valid.

(As in, we've done three tests across the last few months, not that we've tested him three times one after another for some reason!)

Thanks so much Hardbackwriter. I’m sorry you’ve had to do three tests on your child. I’ve been dreading having to do DD, was half glad that the last time we had to isolate was in September during the lack of testing capacity fiasco. I knew it was going to be hard, it’s such a poor test design for young children. Can’t see me being able to do it again, so fingers crossed this one got enough.

Can’t understand why they don’t send another swab, given how difficult it is to do them and how stringent they want us to be re not contaminating. It can’t be that expensive just for another swab.

Just to say that number 3 has now also come back as negative (though sadly we still have a pretty poorly little boy with a temperature ) - hope you get your result soon too!

Oh, I’m glad yours was negative! But sorry to hear your DS is poorly. Hope he gets better soon! We’re still waiting for results. Tracking for Royal Mail is no help, just says they can’t give a status for the item, which is making me a little nervous in case they didn’t pick up yesterday.

I've done my 2 year old 3 times and did a pretty poor job each time, it touched her tongue, teeth etc and each time it came back with a result so I think you'll be fine.

Ugh we had a nightmare testing our two year old too (sounds similar to you) and I assumed it would definitely be an unclear result but it was also negative. I hope you find the same. Try not to worry they wouldn’t let us swab ourselves if there wasn’t a reasonable margin for user error.

I've done my 2 year old 3 times and did a pretty poor job each time, it touched her tongue, teeth etc and each time it came back with a result so I think you'll be fine

Yep same here

Another one who did a poor job of a toddler's test! It came back fine. I was worried it would be inconclusive.

We only had one invalid test from our three yr old Whixh was after he was sick after swabbing throat. The other three times we've tested (two of which were just nose ones and iffy at that) were all negative.

Do bear in mind that a badly taken test from a Covid positive person is just as likely to return a false negative as to come back as inconclusive.

The test is invalid if it touches anything apart from the swabbed areas. Your call if you do it again or make her isolate. Maybe get another person to help if you can next time.

@Chaotic45

Do bear in mind that a badly taken test from a Covid positive person is just as likely to return a false negative as to come back as inconclusive.

Is 'just as likely' rhetoric or a statistical fact? Because I looked quite hard for information on this and I couldn't find any; I did find evidence that accuracy 'can go as low as 71% when self-administered'. If there is evidence that the test literally tells you nothing if not performed perfectly then a) we just shouldn't offer them to toddlers and very young children as I would challenge anyone to do it perfectly on them and b) we also shouldn't offer it as a self-administered test at all.

@Totallydefeated

Oh, I’m glad yours was negative! But sorry to hear your DS is poorly. Hope he gets better soon! We’re still waiting for results. Tracking for Royal Mail is no help, just says they can’t give a status for the item, which is making me a little nervous in case they didn’t pick up yesterday.

Sorry op but that's exactly what it meant with mines, it was the following day before we had tracking info, it was delivered late night the following day, results the next day.

Based on information provided to me at an NHS drive through test centre where I took the 'self administer' option and a tester talked me through the process including the risk of a false negative if it wasn't done properly.

I work in one of the many walk in test centres across the country.
We are there as an alternative to home testing and will help and advise.
Book online or just turn up and register after your test.

Results in 48 hrs.

Hope this helps anyone requiring information.

Do bear in mind that a badly taken test from a Covid positive person is just as likely to return a false negative as to come back as inconclusive.

The test is invalid if it touches anything apart from the swabbed areas. Your call if you do it again or make her isolate. Maybe get another person to help if you can next time.

If the test is that sensitive that there’s absolutely no tolerance for anything other than perfect administration, why are we offering them at home for amateurs to perform on small children? The chances of a perfect shot (with just one swab!) are pretty minimal. Fluke at most.

Torvean there were two of us...., short of fitting her in a straight jacket it’s mpossible to ensure absolutely zero movement. We can’t stop flinching and gagging reflexes. On a small child, a movement a couple of mm each way moves the swab from the tonsil to the tongue. Which apparently isn’t good enough.... 🤷‍♀️

Thanks Pink, the nearest site offered to me was 3.5 miles away. No car (live in London) and 7 miles would be too far for DD to scoot. Especially with a mask on. It would be doable if we had something in walking distance, but that hasn’t been on offer ever. It seems we want people in London to not own a car and use public transport, but also then have a car when a Corona test is needed!

Tbh if i need to do the test myself anyway, there’s no benefit in going. The only way I could imagine this happening is if a practised HCP did if. I certainly can’t imagine doing the sterile hand thing and angling it correctly not to touch teeth, tongue etc mm away from the tonsils in a small child while contorted on the back seat of a car. If we couldn’t manage it at the kitchen table at home....

My toddler did the same, I think I managed about 2 seconds in each area, it came back positive

It’s unlikely to come back as “invalid”. This usually happens when something has prevented RNA from amplifying, so maybe if the patient was taking medication. Or sometimes it can just return an invalid result because the analysers running the tests just do that sometimes.

People are correct to say that it may make the result less meaningful though. Self administered tests are never going to be as good as if they were taken by someone trained to do it. If the swab isn’t taken correctly there’s a chance of false negatives. If a person touched the end of a swab (I think this is what you mean happened?) after use, material from the nose and throat may have inadvertently been removed. I don’t think there is a better answer with toddlers. You just have to do the best you can.

Why don’t they include extra swabs? That’s just how they’re made. One swab per tube. As you can imagine, so many of these are being sent out. If all had 2 swabs in that’s double the amount of stock needed.

If all had 2 swabs in that’s double the amount of stock needed.

Yes, I agree, and for adults it seems reasonable to only include one. But for kids?? Makes it seem like the testing for them is just window dressings.