How To Safeguard The Kids From Omicron Variant?

Omicron has affected everyone, even the young kids as well. Hospitals around the nation are now seeing an increase in kids cases which was not present during the last surge with delta or any other variant.

How To Safeguard The Kids From Omicron Variant?

This has caused some panic among the parents as they are not sure if they should be sending the kids to school or for any outdoor activities.

Most of the schools in the US are now turning to remote learning at least for a week and have asked all the students to get themselves tested during this period. Many of the schools have also made it mandatory that the students present a negative certificate when they come over for in-person learning from next week.

Dr. Leana Wen, who is an emergency physician from George Washington University of Public health, stated that parents now have many questions in regards to their children continuing remote learning.

Wen stated that many parents and children have stated that in-person learning is more effective as this helps them to understand the concepts better; however, seeing the current situation, it is better for the parents to ask the schools to be in remote learning rather than getting their kids infected.

Few of the parents stated that they feel their kids won’t pick up the necessary social skills which are required in the real world with remote learning.

Dr. Wen replied to this, stating that this may be true in many senses; however, it is now being proved that kids are connecting to many other people of their same age through virtual networks, thereby breaking the bonds of geographical restrictions as well.

This helps them understand different cultures at the same time and also helps them to bond with people from different nationalities. Wen also mentioned that social skills are a necessity, and parents should interact with the kids on a daily basis so that they know what the basic etiquettes are while speaking to an adult or how to stay silent while someone else is speaking. 

Some of the parents are scared that if the schools resume in-person learning from next week, they won’t still follow every protocol for the safety of kids.

Dr. Wen replied to this comment stating that every school has got the directive which was sent by CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) stating that schools should sanitize their environment once the students leave for the day so that they can come back to a safe area next day.

Apart from this all the teachers and staff should be vaccinated and wear masks at all times when they are in the school area. 

The government has asked all the parents to get their children vaccinated as this will give them a better chance against the virus. Since kids would be going out to schools, getting vaccinated would help them and their friends as well.

As per reports, kids now represent 17% of all the active cases in the US, which has stressed the authorities. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the chief medical advisor for the White House stated that kids need to be educated about the current situation, especially the ones who are younger than 11 years.

They should be told that they need to wear masks at all times when they exit the home for any given reason. Vaccines for children below the age of 5 have not yet been sanctioned by the FDA.

Authorities will now be conducting surprise inspections in many of the schools to see if they are following the required protocols and also check if the staff is vaccinated who interact with the kids.