Testing strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in the paediatric emergency department.

The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)) in Italy forced a prompt hospital reorganisation in the past 2 months. Every clinic has been divided into two separate departments, based on the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the nasopharyngeal swab.1 In children, three main variables complicate this: first, the not optimal sensitivity of nasopharyngeal swabs, mainly due to technical difficulties2; second, the need of a caregiver during the hospital stay; finally, the high number of paediatric diseases manifesting with fever or cough, thus sharing symptoms of COVID-19, which cause about 25% of emergency department (ED) admissions.3 All these elements make the paediatric testing strategy more challenging. We performed an observational study at Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital of Turin. Two cohorts of patients were collected: cohort A included all the children admitted to the ED from 2 March 2020 through 22 April 2020, with COVID-19-related symptoms; cohort B was composed of patients …