When Should Your Child Be Tested for COVID-19? 

As the number of cases increase in Tarrant County, there are more chances to be exposed to COVID-19, but when should your child get tested?

Take a look to see when to get your child tested and why a negative result doesn’t always mean you are in the clear.

If you are concerned your child was exposed to COVID-19, please give us a call at 817-484-6610.

Symptoms of COVID-19

Symptoms of COVID-19 can appear anywhere from 2-14 days after exposure. Someone with the following symptoms may have COVID-19:

• a fever over 100.4 degrees F
• shortness of breath
• a cough
• chills
• muscle pain
• headache
• sore throat
• new loss of taste or smell
• congestion or runny nose
• nausea or vomiting
• diarrhea

Click on the following resources for more information about caring for symptoms of COVID-19.

• COVID-19 Pediatric Symptom Severity Chart and Parental Guide – English Version
• COVID-19 Pediatric Symptom Severity Chart and Parental Guide – Spanish Version

Please call us if you have any questions or concerns about your child.

Exposure and Testing Guidelines

For children who have had close contact:

Close Contact is defined as a distance of less than 6 feet for a total of at least 15 minutes over a 24 hour period with a person who has a laboratory-confirmed or probable case of COVID-19. Close contact can occur beginning at 2 days before symptoms appear.

• Not Showing Symptoms:
  • Quarantine
  • Wait until at least 4 days after exposure to get tested.
• Showing Symptoms:
  • Get tested
  • or
  • Quarantine until at least 10 days after symptoms first appeared, and child has not had a fever for 24 hours.

Quarantine

If your child is exposed to someone with COVID-19 and they are not showing symptoms, the most important thing is to quarantine in order to stop the spread.

Since the incubation period for symptoms to appear is 2 to 14 days, a negative test too early after exposure doesn’t mean your child won’t get a positive result later. Therefore, it is important to adhere to the CDC quarantine guidelines in order to limit the spread to vulnerable family and friends.

A negative test does not make it “safe” to return to activity and does not eliminate the need for masking, social distancing, and quarantining as appropriate.