COVID triage machine 3000
—> You answered: EXAM NEEDED, the patient has symptoms, without known exposure, and needs in-person examination by a physician. Here’s what to do for the patient and other members of your family.
Plan for the patient:
Call us to schedule an in-person appointment, and confirm you can do home tests prior to your visit (see next item). If you are not able to perform home tests, request to schedule a parking lot swab at some point prior to your visit.
Immediately obtain and perform a COVID test at home on any child and attending parent with any cold or flu symptoms, cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting or exposure. See where to obtain tests in notes below. You will not be able to come inside the clinic with those symptoms without negative results.
—> If COVID positive, let us know right away. We can either cancel, change your appointment to Telehealth, or if symptoms still warrant physical exam, change to a parking lot visit.
Urgent care is not necessary for testing unless it’s after hours and your child is in distress/symptoms that otherwise require urgent attention (see “urgent attention” in notes below).
Does anyone else in family need testing?
Not unless patient above tests positive or if family members need testing for other reasons, such as if they were directly exposed (< 6ft for > 15 minutes) to a confirmed COVID case, or if they have concerning symptoms themselves. If so, repeat the triage from their point of view to see if/when testing indicated. Due to resource constraints we are not currently testing parents, but in addition to home tests there are many local options for testing such as pharmacies, Curative, and urgent care centers.
Should we notify anyone?
Only if test result positive.
Notes:
Patient: the person you are looking for advice or testing for (eg your child, yourself).
Index case = the contagious person who exposed your family to COVID.
Direct exposure = < 6 feet away for > 15 cumulative minutes over 24 hours or shared drink/being coughed/sneezed on.
“Potential Symptoms” include:
Fever or chills
Cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
See this page for more information about COVID-19 symptoms.
Urgent attention needs are essentially the same with COVID as any other viral illness. If your child is in respiratory distress (labored breathing, rapid breathing, unable to speak), severe lethargy/poor responsiveness, profuse vomiting, significant dehydration/urine output reduced below every 8 hours, or an infant less than 2 months old with fever. See our webpages for help with any of these topics, such as our common cold, flu, or dehydration pages. And remember, you’re not alone - if it’s not clear on these pages whether your child’s symptoms require immediate attention simply call us or page your doctor if after hours.
Where can I get a home test? Tests can be purchased at many local pharmacy or grocery stores or delivered via services like Instacart. Some, like Walgreens, may be able to bill your insurance.
Important: this triage system is only applicable to established patients of Trailhead Pediatrics and is not general medical advice for the public, nor are our services available to patients who are not established in our care.
Same-day appointments
For urgent needs, same-day appointments are available Monday through Friday. Please call as early in the day as possible, the more notice we have the easier it is to fit everyone in.
Need help outside of office hours?
Firstly, if your child has an emergency, please call 911 or go directly to the ER - they will contact us if needed once your child has been evaluated.
Urgent Care centers can also be helpful when something needs to be seen outside of office hours but it's not an emergency.
For our list of preferred Urgent Cares and ERs, see our resources page.
And if you have something that might need urgent attention but you're not sure/don't know what to do, we can help: