LFT on primary school child

[Heretooutthere]

We received the pack we ordered of LFT for our household to do twice weekly as we have a 6yo at school, as advised to do by the government.

Well, after trying on/off all morning, with DC ending up in floods of tears and hysterics, I finally was able to test our 6yo. It was absolutely dreadful and I have desire to repeat the experience.

Child has already had a Covid test done 6 months ago at a drive-in centre but doesn’t recall it being done. The NHS told me that children now have to have the tests done by parents only, even for PCR, as I was thinking of taking him to a walk-in testing centre to get someone else to do it. DC said he was scared and no amount of reassurance, showing NHS videos of a child having it done, promise of a treat afterwards etc made any difference.

How on earth do they expect young children to tolerate this being done twice a week? Does anyone have any tips?

@yomommasmomma there's not a chance my 6yo would allow me to do that twice a week willingly, it would be a struggle and a melt down every time which would drain us all emotionally! He had it one PCR test previously that wasn't a pleasant experience for either of us . Unfortunately as hes only 6 he doesn't understand the its for the greater good argument

[quote Wellbythebloodyhell]@yomommasmomma there's not a chance my 6yo would allow me to do that twice a week willingly, it would be a struggle and a melt down every time which would drain us all emotionally! He had it one PCR test previously that wasn't a pleasant experience for either of us . Unfortunately as hes only 6 he doesn't understand the its for the greater good argument[/quote]
I am sorry to hear that, they are all different I suppose. I was able to show my 5 year old that it was fine by doing it in myself and my DH and making it a bit of a game etc.

Although I know primary kids don't have to be tested. To me it's stupid

There is no knowledge of how effective these tests are in primary age children, they have not been validated, they could simply not work, the tests are already of low value in older groups, there's good reason to think they'll be even worse in children, hence you'll just get false positives which means you're in no better place, and if people use as a substitute for a PCR test or isolation actually puts you in a worse place.

sorry false negatives of course (which is the most likely one here as you don't do a good enough swab on a young child and just get spit which has lower concentrations than the mucus)

DD1 missed 4 days of school last week because an idiotic parent did a lateral flow on their child with symptoms.

Home lateral flow kits are for asymptotic adults.

Home lateral flow kits are for asymptotic adults

No, they're not.

They aren’t just for adults but we made the decision to only test us as parents asymptomatically twice weekly. I think that’s a pretty common half way house that continues to protect school pupils and (crucially) the school staff but isn’t unduly traumatic for children.
Seeing us do it regularly will hopefully also make it easier when/if the kids need to do symptomatic testing. Thankfully only had to do it twice for them so far.

@DumplingsAndStew

Home lateral flow kits are for asymptotic adults

No, they're not.

...and secondary aged children then.

They're not for primary aged children.

@DumplingsAndStew

Home lateral flow kits are for asymptotic adults

No, they're not.

How are they not?

@DumplingsAndStew

Home lateral flow kits are for asymptotic adults

No, they're not.

Extract from an email from Public Health England, which clearly states the lateral flow tests ordered if you have a child at primary school are just for a asymptomatic adult (secondary irrelevant to the OP) testing.

"Primary School aged children must not use
the Lateral Flow Tests which are used by adults and secondary school aged
children for asymptomatic testing. If your primary school child displays
symptoms, you must follow the guidance in the link below and book a PCR Test."

The government website says you can order tests for everyone in the household where someone attends nursery, school or college.

It doesn't state not to test primary aged children?

And the booklet that comes with the home tests states

"Children under 12 years of age should be tested by an adult"

It doesn't say not to test primary aged children or they are for adults only.

It's page 3 of the booklet.

@itsgettingwierd

The government website says you can order tests for everyone in the household where someone attends nursery, school or college.

It doesn't state not to test primary aged children?

And the booklet that comes with the home tests states

"Children under 12 years of age should be tested by an adult"

It doesn't say not to test primary aged children or they are for adults only.

It's page 3 of the booklet.

It also says on the website

'Children of primary school age or younger will not be asked to test.'

Our local authority has asked that primary children are tested as well as the adults so she may not be wrong!

@ssd

How are they not?

Because they are also for secondary school children

Letter from director of public health in our area last week - primary school age children not to be tested with lateral flow test. He is generally a voice of sanity in all this. Parents test but not children.

@cliffdiver

DD1 missed 4 days of school last week because an idiotic parent did a lateral flow on their child with symptoms.

Home lateral flow kits are for asymptotic adults.

Why does that make them idiotic? I know with symptoms it may be better just to do a PCR, but if it picks up a case sooner it may minimise further spread in the class rather than waiting another day to get PCR results through

Maybe it's because she used asymptotic instead of asymptomatic.

'Children of primary school age or younger will not be asked to test.'

Not being asked is different to those saying you shouldn't test them.

@hahaboink

To be fair, the booklet gives instructions for how to test a child under 12.

Because some secondary children will be under 12.