My 4 year old is going to speech therapy once a week (actually twice this week) for 30 minutes. She is in a room with one masked therapist.

I got a call today from the office saying they are shutting in person services down for 2 weeks due to an exposure. They are recommending everyone be tested. Due to privacy, they can't give any details about who it was. Which is frustrating, because if it was my daughter's therapist, then obviously we should quarantine and be tested. If it was a different therapist in the office or another client, then my daughter had no contact and it would seem a bit ridiculous to quarantine my whole family in that case.

What should we do? We are ordering an at home saliva test for our 4 year old just to be safe. How long should we wait?

AggieSarah01 said:

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My 4 year old is going to speech therapy once a week (actually twice this week) for 30 minutes. She is in a room with one masked therapist.

I got a call today from the office saying they are shutting in person services down for 2 weeks due to an exposure. They are recommending everyone be tested. Due to privacy, they can't give any details about who it was. Which is frustrating, because if it was my daughter's therapist, then obviously we should quarantine and be tested. If it was a different therapist in the office or another client, then my daughter had no contact and it would seem a bit ridiculous to quarantine my whole family in that case.

What should we do? We are ordering an at home saliva test for our 4 year old just to be safe. How long should we wait?

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First, you don't need to quarantine the whole family, only potentially your 4 year old for 10 days. That's per the CDC. Now obviously if you do choose to quarantine her, one of you has to watch her. 2nd, kids that age at best are questionable as spreaders. To me, the biggest issue with a kiddo that age is that it's unreasonable to quarantine such a small child just for precaution, imo. Unless the therapy center can give you more detail, I'd just watch my daughter for symptoms and continue living life. The main thing I want to avoid, as I have a 5 year old, is making them do the test. That is torture to a little one. Avoid the grand parents and those at risk and nothing more. B/c you aren't "quarantining" a 4 year old.

One thing to consider is that at my school where I work, they do tell the actual people contact traced so that they can quarantine. If you haven't gotten a direct message that your daughter definitely had contact, it's likely she did not, unless there is only one therapist. Again, I'd just watch her and go about life as normal.

Also, if that answer isn't enough, call your pediatrician. See what they recommend.

Thanks, that is helpful. Our state gives out free at-home saliva tests, so we figure we might as well do that. Just wondering if we need to stay home for other things, such as her dance class.

So can we basically assume that unless she shows symptoms, none of the rest of our family got it from her?

jopatura said:

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The therapy place should be able to tell if you if it was a kid or an adult. That's information Texas allows at the school level and it doesn't violate HIPAA (although your state might have different rules... I'd poke around to see what schools in your state are reporting).

If it were me, I'd skip dance class for a week, avoid close gatherings in your house, but still do things like the park. If she goes to preschool or daycare, out of respect, I would discuss it with them if you're financially able to stay home with her.

Otherwise wait for symptoms. I wouldn't test her until minimum 5 days post exposure. And if it were me, I wouldn't test until she showed fairly significant symptoms.

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That's what I was thinking. Our notices are that "a confirmed case of Corona Virus has been reported to (the school) and all those who have have contact with that case have been informed and are taking the necessary steps as recommended by the CDC. No further action needs to take place at this time" or something similar. Granted, each state is different. It's too bad if they won't at least try to give a general statement to those in contact with the confirmed case.