 perform testing for SARS-CoV-2 if the child has:
-  An immune-compromising condition (eg, recipients of antineoplastic chemotherapy, recent hematopoietic cell transplantation, solid organ transplant recipients, primary immunodeficiency, HIV infection with CD4 count <15 percent)
-  Chronic cardiac disease
-  Chronic pulmonary disease
-  Former preterm infants
-  Neuromuscular disease with impaired airway clearance
-  Poorly controlled type I diabetes mellitus
-  Severe obesity (body mass index ≥120 percent of the 95th percentile values
-  Known in-person exposure to a laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 within the previous 14 days


Ohio State University, Columbus

-  Outpatient criteria
-  Inpatient testing criteria
-  preoperative patients
-  Asymptotic individuals


Approach to diagnosis

Deville, J. (2020, August 7). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Clinical manifestations and diagnosis in children. Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-clinical-manifestations-and-diagnosis-in-children?topicRef=127535

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): Clinical manifestations and diagnosis in children

Outpatient testing criteria

-  infants born in the institution to a mother who tested negative for COVID-19 and are admitted to the nursery or neonatal intensive care unit are an exception.
-  For hospitalized children whose initial test results are negative and are scheduled for procedures (eg, endoscopy), we retest within 48 hours of the scheduled procedure.
-  For patients with suspected nosocomial acquisition of a respiratory virus, we test for common respiratory pathogens (eg, via multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) as well as COVID-19.

Inpatient testing criteria

-   Decisions regarding universal testing of children before elective surgery should be individualized according to regional prevalence of COVID-19, local testing capacity, and availability of personal protective equipment 
-  In a study of universal preoperative screening for SARS-CoV-2 at three tertiary care children's hospitals, the overall incidence was <1 percent 

Preoperative patients

In certain circumstances, testing asymptomatic individuals is important for public health or infection control purposes (eg, hospital admission in communities with high prevalence, preoperative screening). Potential indications for testing asymptomatic individuals are discussed separately.

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