What should you know about back to school and omicron?
2:24
(CNN) -
Schools are closing and children's hospitals are filling with children sick with the latest and highly communicable variant of the coronavirus: omicron.
Meanwhile, parents and caregivers are once again faced with what to do to keep their children safe and busy during another pandemic year.
Is it okay to send the kids to school and resume extracurricular activities?
If my child is learning virtually, can he meet up with friends?
What if my child has a medical condition?
Can I take my vaccinated son and his unvaccinated younger brother to meet friends?
Pediatricians warn of an increase in children with covid-19 2:24
To answer your questions, we spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.
She is also the author of "
Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health
" and a mother of two boys, ages 4 and 21 months.
CNN: If my children's school is open for face-to-face classes, is it safe to send them despite the omicron variant?
Dr. Leana Wen:
It is important to keep in mind that practically all activities that involve interacting with others have some level of risk when it comes to the transmission of Covid-19, especially with the increase in infections.
With that in mind, I would recommend that families ask themselves this question: is it essential to go to school in person? Many would say yes. Many children have really suffered from not having in-person learning and are not doing well with remote learning. Additionally, parents and caregivers may need school as a childcare strategy so that adults can work. If in-person school is essential, there are ways to make it less risky. So the question is how can we do it in the safest way?
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Croup, bronchitis and phlegmy cough, among the effects that the omicron variant causes in children
How is omicron different from other variants? This is what we know 2:50
CNN: What if the school is not doing much to protect children from the omicron variant, for example, if it does not require the use of masks and there are no tests for COVID-19?
Wen:
As with every situation, there are different layers that add protection.
An ideal situation, with the least risk, employs them all: all staff and students are vaccinated, masks are required, tests are available twice a week, and there is great ventilation.
But that is not the reality for most schools.
That does not mean that no child can go to school until all conditions are met.
Rather, you should do what is within your control to reduce your risk.
Even if other people around you may not be vaccinated, vaccinating your child very well protects him from serious illness due to COVID-19.
A high-quality mask (N95 or KN95 are best) will protect your child, even if others don't use them reliably or consistently.
It would be nice to have other measures, such as tests for COVID-19, but if they are not available, the risk for your child may still be low if he wears a mask and is vaccinated.
CNN: Is it okay to send my kids to school and have extracurricular activities?
Are there some extracurricular activities that are safer than others?
Wen:
Here, I would ask another question: How important is it for your family that your child avoid covid-19? Specifically, what are the medical circumstances of your home? If everyone in your household is optimally protected with vaccination and boosters (if eligible for boosters), and people are healthy, you might decide that the risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 is very low. This is especially relevant now, since the omicron variant accounts for more than 95% of all infections in the United States, and mounting evidence shows that this variant causes less severe disease in vaccinated people.
Many families may decide that the price for actively avoiding the omicron variant, given how contagious and prevalent it is, is too high.
It would be reasonable for them to decide that their children should participate in as many extracurricular activities as they wish.
Other families may choose to be more cautious.
Perhaps there is someone in the family who is immunosuppressed.
Maybe there is an unvaccinated younger sibling, or they just don't want to get COVID-19.
There are some people who will pay a higher price to avoid it.
In the latter case, families could choose lower-risk extracurricular activities. Activities that can be done outdoors have a much lower risk than those indoors. In closed places, look for things where distancing is possible and where masks must remain on. Use common sense: tennis will likely be safer than wrestling, and the yearbook in a well-spaced classroom will likely be safer than choir practice in a small, cramped space.
If your local emergency rooms are very crowded, you might consider postponing activities that have a higher risk of injury.
Or at least ask your kids to be more careful, otherwise they may have to wait a long time to tend to a broken arm or get stitches.
Are children the new victims of the pandemic?
3:08
CNN: If my son is in virtual teaching, can we get him together with friends so they can learn together?
Wen:
Many families did this last year and formed pandemic groups.
Now it is also an option.
Helps define rules of engagement.
Is everyone vaccinated?
Will everyone have a similar level of caution in other aspects of their lives (for example, not going to restaurants indoors)?
Know that if you are in a capsule, you are taking the risks of others.
And, as contagious as the omicron variant is, if one person contracts COVID-19, others are likely to become infected as well.
CNN: What if there is a younger brother who is less than 5 years old and is not yet vaccinated?
Can I take the whole family to the outdoor zoo or movie theater, or just the vaccinated child?
Wen:
There are many families who will look at the data on COVID-19 and decide that their young child who is not vaccinated is at low risk of becoming seriously ill and that it is not worth taking a lot of extra precautions to prevent infection.
There will be others who want to be as cautious as is reasonable.
My family is trying to take common sense precautions with our two children under the age of 5.
We are members of our local zoo and we enjoy taking them out on the weekends.
We stay away from crowds and only go to outdoor exhibits.
I would not take our children to the movies, where they could be surrounded by people without masks to eat or drink.
However, that is our decision, and it could see us making a different decision if we had an older child who was vaccinated and good at wearing masks.
In that case, maybe that child could still go to the movies and play, if he kept a mask, even if there is a younger brother who is not vaccinated.
CNN: Speaking of individual circumstances, what about someone who has a child with diabetes, asthma, or another underlying medical condition?
Wen:
Vaccinating that child will be key, as someone with underlying medical conditions is more likely to have severe COVID-19 results compared to someone who is otherwise healthy.
Some families may decide that it is still important for that child to have as much of a normal life as possible before the pandemic.
Others may want to take extra precautions.
I would also speak with my pediatrician to assess my child's individual risk.
CNN: I am still undecided about vaccinating my children.
Should I vaccinate them?
Wen:
Yes. More than 6.5 million children ages 5 to 11 have received the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 15.6 million children ages 12 to 17 have also.
Studies have been so clear that vaccines are highly protective against severe covid-19 disease and are very safe.
Vaccinating your children allows them to return to many aspects of life before the pandemic and gives more peace of mind to your entire family.
This is the progress of the omicron variant in the world 4:57
CNN: If my child gets sick from the omicron variant, what should I do?
Wen:
Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should isolate themselves immediately. You must notify your daycare or school. You should also test everyone else in your home right away. If everyone in your family has COVID-19, they don't need to isolate themselves from each other. But if there are some people in the house who are negative and some who are positive, those with coronavirus should be kept separate from those without.
Follow the instructions from your doctor, your local health department or school protocols, or those from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how long the test should last. isolation from your child.
During the isolation period, it is important that your child does not hang out with his friends.
Usually they must stay home.
If they go outside to get fresh air, they should wear a mask and stay away from other people.
CNN: What if everyone in the family is vaccinated and has already had an omicron?
Do you have superimmunity?
If so, shouldn't we try to get infected?
Wen:
It is probably true that someone who has been vaccinated and has now recovered from omicron has additional protection.
Re-infection with omicron has not yet been really documented, and some studies suggest that infection with omicron may protect against delta.
That said, I wouldn't recommend that people purposely try to get COVID-19.
That is because hospitals are so overloaded.
There is still the possibility, albeit a very low one, that a vaccinated person will become seriously ill.
You don't want to end up needing a hospital right now.
For vaccinated people, it is reasonable to take basic precautions such as wearing a mask in public places and indoors to reduce the likelihood of infection, while resuming the aspects of life that are considered most important, including returning children to school .
Covid-19micron
