COVID-19 Testing Guidance Update

On December 5, 2022, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released an updated version of their Interim COVID-19 Self-Testing Guidance.

This new update allows for use of at-home rapid antigen testing for children under 2 years of age. Key points to the updated guidance:

It is recommended that parents or guardians that choose to test children under 2 years of age administer the at-home test themselves and to follow the instructions for use that come with the test for specific directions on testing children.

At this time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved or authorized any at-home COVID-19 rapid antigen test for use in children under 2 years of age. However, at-home tests may be safely used in children in this age range after being exposed, while in isolation, and if a child is experiencing symptoms.

This update allows testing to be done at home instead of exclusively with a health provider. Using at-home tests will help relieve the demand for testing in primary care, urgent care, and emergency departments settings that are currently overwhelming the pediatric health care system.

K-12 schools and child cares with a waived medical test site (MTS) license are not permitted to perform at-home rapid antigen tests on children under 2 years of age since the FDA has not approved or authorized at-home COVID-19 test for use in this age range. K-12 schools and child cares may provide at-home rapid antigen tests to parents or caregivers for their use.

If you have any questions about this new guidance, please reach out to our Child Care COVID Response Team at childcarehealth@snohd.org.

No Cost COVID-19 Test Kits for Child Care Facilities

Child care facilities that are in need of rapid antigen tests (home tests) can now contact Snohomish Health District to make a request for those tests. Tests are provided at no charge to child care facilities through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program funding. You must call the COVID-19 Call Center (425-339-5278) or email childcarehealth@snohd.org to request your kits and discuss the pick-up process.

Tests are NOT available on a drop-in basis. Test kits will need to be picked up in Everett when ready.

Free COVID-19 test kits (home antigen) to households are still available through The Washington State Department of Health (DOH). Please remind your families/staff to order from https://www.sayyescovidhometest.org/. Each household can submit an order each calendar month.

For families that have insurance, please encourage them to use their benefit of free at-home tests. Each person covered under the insurance plan can receive 8 free tests per month.

In July, the FDA granted another extension to the expiration dates for the iHealth tests. Click here for the list of the lot numbers and the updated expiration dates or use this online tool to input the lot number to calculate the updated expiration date.

To report a COVID-19 case, or if you have any other questions about COVID-19, please call 425-252-5415 and leave a message or email childcarehealth@snohd.org. A staff person from the child care COVID-19 team will get back to you.

For other child care health and safety questions, please contact the Child Care Health Outreach program. You can reach us at 425-252-5415 or by email at childcarehealth@snohd.org.