Are Kids Safe Amidst Omicron Variant Surge? 

With the outburst of Omicron Variant, children are facing the virus and hospitals are increasing with young patients in large numbers. The most contagious virus is again spreading through young life. Schools are shutting down; social activities are taking a break. The parents and the caregivers are again facing trouble ones again with the pandemic.

Are Kids Safe Amidst Omicron Variant Surge? 

The pandemic era has left parents and children in a completely isolated surrounding with less social interaction with friends and school life.

During the Omicron wave, is it advisable to send a child to meet friends or for attending extra-curricular? Lots of questions parents are going through, can a vaccinated child play with their unvaccinated friends? Can they play together?

Is it safe to send children to school, for in-person instructions?

As we know, at the moment everything is virtual which is a safer option than physical interaction. There is always countless risk when interacting with people and high chances of virus transmission, especially at the time of the surging virus.

It is true that in-person with the school teachers and parents is better than virtual interaction. Many children are facing troubles of not having in-person classes and activities, as a result, the children are unable to do well in remote classes. Even the adults cannot drop off their children to caregivers so that parents can work. But the question is, how these problems can be resolved? Is there an alternative that Is less risky and in-person schooling can be done?

Is the school taking precautions?

The school needs to have an extra safety protocol to ensure protection for each one coming to school. It should be made mandatory for every staff and student to wear masks, be fully vaccinated, and have a test weekly twice with good ventilation.

But how long we can control and have a check if all the criterion is met and the child is safe to go. We should do what is in our hands, to reduce the risk and protect ourselves. Not many schools can maintain the safety protocols for the Covid-19 surge.

When your child goes around outside and has any physical interaction with friends, he should be following all the safety measures like wearing a mask and being fully vaccinated. Your child being vaccinated is at low risk than those who are unvaccinated.  Measures like testing or masks like N95 OR KN95 can be worn for extra safety measures. It is recommended to follow safer ways to not allow any virus transmission.

Is it safe for children to go to school and attend extra-curricular activities?

The situation is totally dependent upon family to family. If your family is fully vaccinated and healthy, the medication condition is sustained. And if everybody is protected with booster and vaccination, then you can decide that the risk of Covid-19 illness will not be severe and merely low. Since the Omicron virus is everywhere around the United States, the research shows that the variant will have a lesser impact on the people who are fully vaccinated. 

The families may decide upon looking at the current stage of Omicron contagious variant, causing severe illness. It would be a personal decision to send their children to participate in extracurricular activities., keeping in mind the virus transmission is on a higher side.

Maybe other families may be extra-vigilant about sending their child to school amidst the Omicron variant surge and wouldn’t be ready to compromise on the health of their family members. Maybe they have a younger sibling who is unvaccinated, and therefore they are avoiding sending to school to minimize severe illness.