Children infected with COVID-19 are mostly asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. Children
may spread COVID-19 to the elderly, vulnerable patients and medical staff. There is a
dearth of data on the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the pediatric surgical population.
Rapid antigen detection tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 are reliable, simple, fast,
and inexpensive.

This is a prospective observational clinical study. The study population will include all
consenting pediatric surgical patients, aged 2-17 years. Informed consent will be
obtained from each patient and the legal guardian who agree to participate in the study.
Nasopharyngeal swab specimens will be collected from anesthetized pediatric patients.
COVID-19 rapid antigen testing will be performed according to the equipment
manufacturer's instructions.

Data collection will include COVID-19 test result, nasal swab complication, patient
demographics, surgical history, medical history, regular medications, COVID-19 symptoms,
and COVID-19 exposure information. COVID-19 symptoms that will be recorded are cough,
wheeze, nasal congestion, breathing difficulty, new loss of taste or smell, fever,
chills, rigors, body aches, sore throat, nausea, and fatigue. COVID-19 exposure will be
considered as being within 6 feet of a person with diagnosed COVID-19 infection in the
previous 14 days.