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When COVID-19 rates dropped earlier this spring, many thought we'd be out of the woods for the fall back-to-school season. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 Delta variant emerged shortly thereafter, and now as we head into a new school year, Delta variant cases are surging in many states.
So, is it even safe to send kids back to school this fall? Read on to find out what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and doctors have to say.
How concerned should we be about the Delta variant of COVID-19?
The COVID-19 Delta variant was first identified in December 2020 and as a result of its highly contagious nature, doctor recommendations lean toward ensuring that everyone who is eligible gets the vaccine to help slow the spread.
F. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, expressed concern for what he calls "patchwork vaccination" rates. "You have these pockets that are highly vaccinated that are adjacent to places that have 20% vaccination," Dr. Wilson told Yale Medicine magazine. "The problem is that this allows the virus to hop, skip, and jump from one poorly vaccinated area to another."
These patches would increase COVID-19 cases into a shorter span of time rather than draw them out over several years. "That sounds almost like a good thing," Dr. Wilson said. "It’s not. If too many people are infected at once in a particular area, the local health care system will become overwhelmed, and more people will die. While that might be less likely to happen in the U.S., it will be the case in other parts of the world. That’s something we have to worry about a lot."
According to a UK study out of Imperial College London, children and adults under the age of 50 were 2.5 times more likely to become infected with the Delta variant. In June, Delta was spreading 50% faster than the second strain of COVID-19, Alpha.
"In a completely unmitigated environment — where no one is vaccinated or wearing masks — it’s estimated that the average person infected with the original coronavirus strain will infect 2.5 other people," Dr. Wilson explained. "In the same environment, Delta would spread from one person to maybe 3.5 or 4 other people."
When will a vaccine be available for kids?
The CDC indicates that kids age 12–15 are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and no safety concerns were indicated during trials. In answer to the question, "Is the vaccine safe for kids?" the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to an NBC News article, anticipates that vaccine clinical trial results in children ages 5 through 11 could be available by September. And while that seems to be right around the corner, in order for vaccine approval, the regulatory agency asks for four to six months of follow-up for kids under 12.
Moderna clinical trial researcher Dr. Buddy Creech told NBC News that results for younger children may take a while. "I can't imagine, except maybe for the 6- to 11-year-olds, that we're going to have too much data before the late fall. There's still a lot of work left to be done," the pediatric infectious disease expert summarized.
CDC COVID recommendations for back to school
To ensure back-to-school safety, the CDC recommends indoor masking for all students over the age of 2. Wearing masks and implementing additional prevention strategies like proper ventilation, hand-washing, disinfecting, and testing are all important.
In addition to these multilayered prevention strategies, the CDC also suggests that local communities monitor their transmission and vaccination rates to help guide their prevention decisions to ensure back-to-school safety.
Unfortunately, school districts can only do so much. Michelle Johnson Garrett, the mom of a fourth grader living in South Carolina, expressed concerns over kids heading back to school and her frustration with the state governments' budget constraints and verbiage that limits school district oversight.
"It’s not a matter of if she’ll be protected from the virus, but how long before we have to deal with exposure," Garrett told Mom.com. "Yes, she’ll have her mask and backups, but I’m a realist. At her age, she most likely won’t keep it on for 8 hours. She’s even expressed concern over whether her classmates will wear theirs the entire day and how recess will work since they’re able to take their masks off outside."
In a recent New York Times article, Dr. Liz Stuart of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health puts back-to-school safety into perspective: "Think through what you do have control over and what you can do yourself. Try to minimize unnecessary exposure. Think of school as an essential activity. The school might be one source of risk, but minimize the other potential sources for the household," Dr. Stuart explained.
Apart from wearing a mask at school, what else can be done to stay safe?
Keeping open lines of communication with your child's school is essential for safety. Advice from the Houston Methodist Hospital suggests that, besides making sure your child's school adheres to official public health recommendations, parents should pose the following questions to their child's school:
- Are social distancing measures in place?
- Have teachers and staff members been vaccinated?
- Is hand sanitizer readily available?
- How often are surfaces disinfected?
- What plans are in place in the event someone tests positive for COVID-19?
Equip your child with all of the supplies they need to stay as safe as possible and know where your community stands in terms of its COVID-19 rates. Resources such as this CNN website offer an easy way to look up statistics by zip code.
