{"id":575360,"date":"2021-07-28T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T20:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?p=575360"},"modified":"2021-07-28T14:55:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T18:55:00","slug":"ask-the-doctor-with-delta-variant-rampant-how-can-parents-protect-young-kids-from-covid-this-summer-and-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/ask-the-doctor-with-delta-variant-rampant-how-can-parents-protect-young-kids-from-covid-this-summer-and-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Doctor: With Delta Variant Rampant, How Can Parents Protect Young Kids from COVID this Summer and Fall?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>f you\u2019re the parent of a child under 12 years old, you may feel like you\u2019re in a tricky spot right now.<\/p>\n

The most recent vaccine timelines say your child won\u2019t be eligible for coronavirus vaccinations until mid-winter<\/a>, but with shots widely available to adolescents, teens and adults, it seemed the country was returning to something resembling normalcy: Restaurants are full, movie theaters are open and professional sports are back in full swing.<\/p>\n

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At the same time, however, rampant spread of the more infectious Delta variant spurred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday to reverse course on masking recommendations in schools, now urging all students and personnel in K-12 settings to cover up<\/a> whether vaccinated or not.With COVID cases up more than 200 percent in the past month nationwide<\/a>, and with especially rapid transmission in under-vaccinated areas, the risks of the pandemic to kids has not faded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Delta variant resets the COVID clock back to March 2020 for people who are not yet vaccinated, including children,\u201d Rebecca Wurtz, professor of health policy at the University of Minnesota, told The 74 via email.<\/p>\n

That leaves many parents wondering how to safely navigate the fast approaching back-to-school season. With misinformation about the virus and the vaccine<\/a> in wide circulation, we spoke directly to health experts to offer some clarity.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what they had to say:<\/p>\n

1 Is the Delta variant more dangerous to my child than previous strains of COVID-19?<\/p>\n

Short answer: yes and no.<\/p>\n

The level of danger to kids includes two important dimensions: 1) how likely is it that a child will contract the virus, and 2) how likely is it that, once testing positive, a child will suffer a serious outcome like hospitalization or long-term symptoms.<\/p>\n

On the first front, the Delta variant is significantly more transmissible than other COVID strains. With the mutation now the predominant strain in the U.S., there is an elevated risk that anyone unvaccinated, including kids, will catch the virus, doctors told The 74.<\/p>\n

But on the second front, there is no indication, says UCLA professor of pediatrics Ishminder Kaur, that when young people test positive, even for the Delta variant, they are getting sicker than they would with previous strains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might see an increase in number [of cases], but we\u2019re not seeing an increase in severity,\u201d the infectious disease expert told The 74.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s extremely good news, says Janet Englund, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Consistent across all strains, the COVID expert told The 74, \u201cchildren who get infected with the virus, even a variant, are less likely to get very sick than an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n

A rare but severe condition, multisystem inflammatory syndrome, does appear to be linked to COVID-19 in children<\/a>, and between 2 and 10 percent of pediatric virus cases<\/a> also include months of \u201clong COVID\u201d symptoms like brain fog and tiredness. But recent numbers from the United Kingdom put the absolute risk of death from the coronavirus in children at approximately 2 in a million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2 Is in-person learning safe this fall?<\/p>\n

While of course there are exceptions, droves of academic studies show that, for the majority of students, learning in the classroom is linked to positive academic<\/a> and socio-emotional<\/a> outcomes.<\/p>\n

Last school year, a collection of 130 studies found that schools were not the locus of community spread<\/a>, and could safely reopen as long as safety measures like ventilation, masking and distancing were in place and infection rates in the surrounding area were not raging.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren should return to school in person this fall to make avail of all the benefits of in-person learning,\u201d encouraged Amruta Padhye, pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Missouri. On Friday, the White House officials said schools should be \u201c100 percent\u201d open this fall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But a safe reopening is predicated on schools implementing measures to mitigate spread of the virus. So what combinations of protocols actually makes a school \u201csafe?\u201d Read on.<\/p>\n