By Dena Vang
Parents, caregivers, and educators have had many other reports with COVID protocols during the pandemic. As the 2022-2023 school year approaches and Omicron subvariants cause a backlog of COVID cases, there are steps parents can take to restrict exposure and mitigate the dangers of young people contracting the virus. Here are some tips on how to navigate the next school year.
Vaccinate your child
Vaccinating children is one of the most important steps in avoiding the worst COVID outcomes, including from Omicron and its subvariants. Vaccines should be given from 6 months of age.
“It’s amazing that we’ve been able to fully vaccinate the entire circle of family members,” Dr. Brown said. Karen Smith, family circle physician and Cobb Institute physician, at a recent Stay Well network fitness fair and vaccination event in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Once again, we assure families that vaccines are there to give their child a chance to succeed over those diseases that years ago claimed children’s lives. Now you have the opportunity to protect your child from COVID. Let’s go to the total circle of relatives.
Masking
Masks continue to carry the odd layer of protection, especially in indoor spaces such as schools and daycares. Samira Brown, a pediatrician, co-founder of Little Lives PPE and a physician at the Cobb Institute, shared that during the first omicron outbreak in January 2022, when children were returning to school, more than one million children tested positive for COVID in a week of singleness, which is the highest rate of pediatric cases to date. Parents would possibly mask their children even when the mask is optional.
“As the return to school approaches, we need to make sure certain families are well prepared,” Dr. Brown said. “We recommend, when rates are rising in your community, a combination of preventive methods, adding vaccination, masks, hand washing, social distancing when possible, avoiding public and crowded spaces, maximizing ventilation when indoors, and performing testing/isolation when symptoms occur or exposure occurs.
Dr. Brown noted that masks are not safe for children under the age of two. But for children over the age of two, parents deserve to opt for a mask that fits well and can remove small viral particles.
Encourage young people to wash their hands.
Prevent the spread of germs by encouraging your child to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap after touching a mask and items and surfaces touched by others. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.
Monitor your child for symptoms
COVID symptoms are for adults and children, who may present with cough, fever or chills, shortness of breath, sore throat, and body aches. If your child has symptoms, take him out of school and tell your pediatrician.
To learn more about fitness and vaccination resources, visit the Stay Well Community Facebook page.
For a vaccination site, look for vacunas. gov, text your zip code to the 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to sites near you.
Dena Vang is a public manager at Creative Marketing Resources, a strategic marketing firm in Milwaukee and wife of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. U. S. and cobb Institute.