We were sent to a “Covid ward” even though we don’t have Covid.

[Dandylioness1]

My son (15 months) hasn’t been well and has a had a high temp since Monday.

We went for a PCR test yesterday morning and it came back negative.

Today his temp really spiked and I took him to A&E.

We went to the children’s assessment unit.

When we arrived we were told there was a red and green area (Covid and non Covid)
I was directed to the red area.

I told them we’d had a negative test and showed them my email with the result.

I was told it didn’t matter and because he had a symptom of Covid he we had to go to the red area.

They examined my son and he has tonsillitis.

I can’t help but feel we’ve been put more at risk being on a “Covid ward”, especially since we know that his temp wasn’t related to Covid and was confirmed by a negative test.!!

Not really a point to my post but just feeling a bit narked by it.

CEV children are not vaccinated.
CEV children are often more likely to be in hospital anyway.
Your child had a symptom of coronavirus. It is possible you inadvertently had messed up that test or the test was just wrong.

Could you have lived with yourself if by putting your child in a green area and it was tonsillitis and Coronavirus you killed another child?

The hospital did the right thing.

I’ve had this OP, twice now actually. DD has had tonsillitis twice, both with negative tests and I’ve still been sent to the ‘red zone’ of my GP’s. I didn’t think it was unreasonable, it’s better to be safe than sorry. The red zone was CLEAN. It stank of disinfectant, was bare, the GP brought in just sterilised equipment. The room is only used once every 30 minutes to allow for cleaning etc.
To be honest, it felt cleaner than the green zone 😂

I honestly don’t think you have anything to worry about being assessed in red zone room. You aren’t there very long. Being admitted to a covid ward without covid would be more worrying for sure!

They will need to repeat test if symptomatic. Red is not a diagnosed Covid zone, rather it is still a possibility that needs to be eliminated and precautions taken.

Hope you’re little one is doing ok.
I had the opposite experience last year. I was in A&E with an infected wound and a high temperature. I was treated on the green side. I was quite surprised.

You weren’t sent to a Covid ward, but a triage area of ED, by the sounds of things.

As many others have said, and correctly stated;

1. a PCR swab is out of date the moment the swab leaves an orifice and they’re not as reliable as you think! It’s all to do with dates and even down to the swabber. I’ve treated Covid positive patients who have gotten negative swabs for weeks and then they’ve come back as positive again. Viral load changes. Too many variables can occur!
2. all patients must be triaged in a safe manner, even if you disagree with the infection control policy in place
3. a high temp is a Covid symptom (although not a single diagnostic factor) so that’ll be enough for you to be triaged in a non-green environment until negative PCR (for you and your child) has been done and the results are back.

Covid is an awful thing. It’s not about singling people out to victimise you/them. It’s about making sure EVERYONE is safe. Please don’t let it nark you! It’s because we in the NHS care about everyone’s wellbeing, no matter what the circumstance is! 💙

That's weird OP. Procedures must have changed a lot since last summer. My dd also had a very high temperature that would not go down, no other symptoms.

She was tested in AE with results pending and we were not on any special Covid ward, even though it could have been Covid.

@Skyforce1000

Op child was negative, why can't people understand that.

No covid symptoms.

So many stupid people around, sigh 😕

OP's son DID have Covid symptoms. PCR tests can give false positives. Everyone except you can understand that. A very few really stupid people around, and you are one of them.

A PCR test does not prove the absence of an infection. It's unlikely that someone would have symptoms caused by covid when they take a test that returns negative, but from the hospital's perspective, they have a symptomatic kid and a test that's out of date because yesterday may have been day 2 of an infection and today it's day 3. (Tests on days 1 & 2 are often negative).

If tests on day 1 & 2 of symptoms are often negative, it makes you wonder why we are bothering with a testing regime as most people who can get to a test centre will get a test as soon as they show symptoms.

@user1495884211 it's a problem yes, one of the reasons we are struggling to contain the virus.

@Haenow an obviously infected wound would be expected to produce a temp, this is probably why you were assessed as non probable Covid.

There is diagnostic criteria, there is also other criteria to take account of eg a patient coming in medically unwell with any symptoms from a prison or nursing him with an outbreak should be treated as Covid till proved otherwise. Especially as symptoms vary.

@ThuggeryAffair

It's also worth bearing in mind it's extremely hard to get an accurate result from a swab test on a toddler. I wouldn't feel at all confident about a PCR test conducted on a 15 month old. My 9 year old struggles with it and I'm not convinced the results of his LFTs are correct!

If the test is done incorrectly doesn't it show an inconclusive result? As opposed to a negative?

@user1495884211

A PCR test does not prove the absence of an infection. It's unlikely that someone would have symptoms caused by covid when they take a test that returns negative, but from the hospital's perspective, they have a symptomatic kid and a test that's out of date because yesterday may have been day 2 of an infection and today it's day 3. (Tests on days 1 & 2 are often negative).

If tests on day 1 & 2 of symptoms are often negative, it makes you wonder why we are bothering with a testing regime as most people who can get to a test centre will get a test as soon as they show symptoms.

Indeed, if this was correct then surely you would only be allowed to test from day 3 onwards?

The options when booking a test allow you to say symptoms started "today" (it will have whatever day today's date is)

I'd like @user1495884211 to fact check her comment and provide some official evidence of the PCR tests show up (false) negatives on day 1 and 2.

The NHS have been the superspreader throughout - not that this will ever be officially confirmed. The "heroes" narrative etc

@Crunchymum I think multiple factors come into play, it’s to do with the viral load, it’s to do with timelines and it being a false positive as opposed to a negative. I think what @user1495884211 is trying to say is that unless you know exactly which date Covid could have been contracted, you don’t know for sure which is day one, day two, day three and so on. When admitted into hospital PCR swabs are respected every 7 days (or were) to avoid these negative results when actually the patient is in fact positive. So if OP’s kiddo had a swab for a procedure or a general test vs symptomatic and needing to be cleared it’s not always clear. A swab in isolation, just like a temperature, is not enough. It’s about the bigger picture and looking at the patient from all aspects to piece together a puzzle.

I mentioned above, I have seen patients who have been Covid positive and then tested negative and then positive again (whilst still an inpatient and in a side room with no visitors). So many variables - swab sites/technique, tester and viral load all need to be considered. I have had two PCR swabs and they were both done completely differently.

@LittleRen

Another point of view... I was in a&e last night with my 7 year old after an injury in school. There were two children with high temperatures in there and I felt uncomfortable. I think what they did is correct as PCR tests are not 100%.

@LittleRen

Ah I completely understand this.

I felt uncomfortable being on a ward with other children who had temperatures too, especially since my son had a negative Covid test and was then diagnosed with tonsillitis.

I do see it from your POV and I do understand that from this perspective anyone with Covid symptoms should he separated.

I think I just felt upset by it as my son was negative and once they’d checked him over we knew it was tonsillitis.

@funnycola

That's weird OP. Procedures must have changed a lot since last summer. My dd also had a very high temperature that would not go down, no other symptoms.

She was tested in AE with results pending and we were not on any special Covid ward, even though it could have been Covid.

@funnycola

I don’t actually think it was a Covid ward.

When I arrived to the children’s assessment unit, they had two sides, green and red.

The ward I was on was red. There were two other patients on the ward.
One was a toddler who had come in with tummy pain and a temp, and the other a toddler who came in with breathing difficulties & coughing, but was asthmatic.

So I don’t think anyone actually had Covid (although they could have) but because they had one of the Covid symptoms they were in a red area.

Ps I don’t make a habit of listening to peoples business but it’s really hard not over hear on a ward and especially when you’re worrying if the person next to you has Covid 🙈

[quote Dandylioness1]**@Northernlurker

@Northernlurker

But it the most reliable thing we have. If we can stop self isolation (for symptoms) with a negative test, then surely it’s reliable enough to not have to send a 15 month old baby to a Covid ward that puts him more at risk. ☹️[/quote]
And if you were on a green ward and DID have covid you could have potentially made another child extremely ill. Hospital were completely right.

@IVFhadenough

Many thanks for taking the time to post. That is very interesting!! I wasn't looking at it from that perspective.

@Hazelnutlatteplease

CEV children are not vaccinated. CEV children are often more likely to be in hospital anyway. Your child had a symptom of coronavirus. It is possible you inadvertently had messed up that test or the test was just wrong.

Could you have lived with yourself if by putting your child in a green area and it was tonsillitis and Coronavirus you killed another child?

The hospital did the right thing.

@Hazelnutlatteplease

Could you have lived with yourself if by putting your child in a green area and it was tonsillitis and Coronavirus you killed another child?

I would never willingly ever put anyone at risk.

I just didn’t quite understand that we’d done a test and it was negative, but were still treat as a Covid patient.

My son would’ve been allowed back to nursery and me work (if he’d been well enough) on the basis that his test was negative.

Yet at the hospital we were into an area where he / myself, could’ve caught Covid.

I have thought about it, and now I’ve calmed down and I’m feeling more rational, I can kind of see why the hospital did that.
I just wish I’d not bothered putting my son through the test; it was awful for him.

@Dandylioness1 the test is grim. I've got colleagues who've had to get their little ones done repeatedly due to temps and coughs. Some kids just run hot and chesty! I think the record is five swabs for one poor little lamb....

@Crunchymum (and everyone else)

Forgive the awful typos and I meant false negative 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sitting here with a very sore ear that’s developed into the start of an ear infection and I also have a migraine. I’m sure you still got my drift though 😂

And no probs 🙂. It’s not as straight forward (sometimes) as just a swab and its either negative or positive and that’s that. If only it was that simple!! This is why the infection control policies are so incredibly important as it’s the stop gap between multiple factors being ironed out to get a definitive yes/no answer. Also, regarding the OP, say son swabbed negative a few days prior, OP could well be carrying (and be asymptomatic) and then put in a green zone. This would also be an awful situation as OP wasn’t swabbed so ideally both need to be to be extra safe. So it’s just a protocol that’s in place for everyone’s protection. It really isn’t about pointing fingers or a swab being pointless or anything... just to keep everyone as safe as possible.

There should be an amber area for this kind of situation!

If they're putting all people with just one symptom in the red areas though, then it's no wonder that transmission as a result of being in hospital is rife.

@Skyforce1000

Op child was negative, why can't people understand that.

No covid symptoms.

So many stupid people around, sigh 😕

He had a high temp. High temp = covid symptom.

Perhaps hold off on calling others stupid.

@AwaAnBileYerHeid

A high temp doesn’t = Covid.

There are lots of other illness that can cause a high temp, especially in children.

Yes a high temp means a Covid test, but it doesn’t automatically mean you HAVE Covid.

You can’t even cough these days without people thinking you 100% have Covid.

@Crunchymum, I was quoting a @strangeshapedpotato who said that it was common to test negative in first couple of days while symptomatic (hence the bold text - I couldn't quote as they had already used text)

I stand by my comment, if their assertion is correct, the whole testing process is flawed.

Tonsillitis can be really nasty. I'm not sure I'd do another pcr test as it could be very painful.

Maybe stay home until the anti biotics kick in and see how he is then?

I'd have felt really uncomfortable being on that ward too but a symptom is a symptom so I guess they had to. I hope he's better soon x