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7/16/21 news article

update to COVID-19 testing policy for pre-surgery/procedure patients

Asymptomatic patients no longer require COVID-19 testing before surgery/procedure

Beginning July 19, Dayton Children’s will stop COVID-19 testing for surgical and procedural patients who are not being admitted and who do not show symptoms of COVID-19. This decision was made after careful consideration of the safety of our staff and patient families. We have tested more than 2,000 surgery patients since May and have only had 9 patients test positive, which is an infection rate of 0.004%. Based on this data and to avoid an unnecessary, invasive test for our patients, we are going to stop testing as a requirement for surgery for our patients without symptoms.

Surgical patients will still need to have the COVID-19 PCR test 2 days before the procedure/surgery if:

  • They have symptoms (cough, congestion or runny nose, shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, fever, loss of taste/smell, headache, sore throat, diarrhea, muscle pain) – even if they are vaccinated
  • They require an inpatient stay

View the most current information on testing locations and details here.

Patients who have a known exposure should have their surgery postponed until after their quarantine period, if possible.