[ad_1]
As San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted last week: “If you’re not vaccinated, it’s probably not a question of whether you get it, but when and how much. will be serious when you do.
So where does that leave children under the age of 12, who are still not eligible for the coronavirus vaccine and are soon returning to their classrooms?
Childhood COVID-19 cases have increased in San Francisco and across California in recent weeks, as have unvaccinated adults. But health experts say, compared to adults, children have a relatively low risk of illness severe enough to require hospitalization or death, even with the easier-to-catch delta version of the virus.
Most children have mild symptoms or no symptoms of the infection, and that hasn’t changed with the delta variant, said Dr. Susan Philip, health manager in San Francisco. And the proven protective measures – masks in public places and hand washing – remain largely effective in preventing infections, she said.
For concerned parents, “It’s good and hopeful,” she said.
Even so, with many unknowns about the coronavirus itself, health experts are closely monitoring the situation of children as vaccination rates are below the level needed for herd immunity protection. Research, for example, is exploring the prevalence and nature of the so-called “long COVID” in young people – symptoms that can last for months but have been little studied in children.
And even a small number of children who become seriously ill or die from COVID-19 are not acceptable, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a recent hearing in the US Senate. .
There are clear risk factors, like obesity, that increase the risk of serious illness in children and adults, noted Dr Yvonne Maldonado, pediatric infectious disease expert at Stanford. But it is not always possible to predict which children will suffer from serious illness from COVID-19.
Maldonado, who is leading a trial of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine with children aged 2 to 5, recommends that parents revert to the mindset of last year when face masks were commonplace.
“At the end of the day, I’m not very concerned about the kids at this point – provided the parents take the same precautions,” Maldonado said.
In California, nearly 500,000 children have tested positive, or about 13% of the state’s cases since the start of the pandemic. Twenty-eight California children have died, among about 400 child deaths from COVID-19 nationwide, according to the CDC, which also reports that babies under 1 year of age and children with asthma, diabetes and other serious health problems are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
“The children we have seen are often children who have comorbidities, many of whom have asthma and morbid obesity,” said Dr Ann Petru, pediatric infectious disease expert at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. ‘Oakland.
Families of children with special health problems should see their pediatrician, Petru said. Otherwise, the usual pandemic advice still applies.
Correction: An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect job title for Sarah Jackel. She is the COO of a political technology company.
“Yes on masks in public areas where you are near others,” Petru said. “Outside in the park, running on the beach, you don’t need to wear a mask. California updated its recommendations on Wednesday and called on everyone – even the vaccinated – to wear face masks in indoor public places.
“We’ve learned a lot over the past year and a half, and we need to continue to build on that,” agreed Sarah Jackel, mother of Oakland, COO of a political technology company. “What we have learned is that children are not very likely to be infected or have poor results.”
Jackel expressed confidence in the steps she and her husband are taking to protect their children, ages 4 and 7, from the delta variant: wearing masks indoors like grocery stores, postponing air travel, guarding a mask on their son in kindergarten but remove on the playground or during other outdoor games.
In the first three weeks of July, San Francisco saw 138 new cases of coronavirus in children 10 and under, compared to 48 cases reported in the entire month of June. This rate was slightly higher than the increase in adolescents 12 years and older, who are eligible for vaccination, but lower than adult infection rates.
The increase in cases follows California’s reopening on June 15, when most pandemic restrictions, including mask warrants, were lifted.
California cases in children aged 17 and under increased 83% in the first two weeks of July compared to the two weeks that ended on June 9 – just before restrictions were eased and the number increased. number of people going out and interacting more – according to Dr George Lemp, a retired University of California epidemiologist who regularly analyzes the state’s coronavirus data. Among all age groups, cases jumped 96%.
Lemp said the increase in infections in children, who, like adults, could potentially transmit the virus even when they are not showing symptoms, creates additional risks of transmission to vulnerable adults – especially the elderly who were the most affected by the virus.
One unknown is the extent to which children can develop “long-term COVID” – with long-term symptoms ranging from fatigue to inflammation. Petru said these cases are difficult to track because they usually don’t require hospitalization.
“This is a topic of much discussion, but it has not been resolved,” said Petru. “You would think that this far (in the pandemic) we would have more data.”
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, launch a multi-year, $ 40 million study into the longest COVID in children as well as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a rare and severe immune response to COVID-19.
Jackel’s biggest worry is that an exaggerated worry about the Delta variant threatens to close schools again.
Hattie and Arlo Jackel-Sheldon play maskless in “Triangle Park” in Oakland. Cases of COVID are increasing in children with the increase in the delta variant, but experts say the risk is low for most children, and parents can help protect them with masks in indoor public places.
Nina Riggio / The Chronicle“School loss has a much more deleterious impact on children than putting them in schools where they have a low risk” of contracting the virus, said Jackel.
Philip, the San Francisco health worker, agrees, and his July 16 directive encouraged all schools to reopen for in-person instruction. Philip said there were few cases related to private schools and preschool campuses that remained open during the pandemic.
The best protection measure for children? Ensure that all adults in a household are vaccinated, Philip said.
“For children who cannot get vaccinated,” she said, “the biggest risk factor is an unvaccinated adult in their life.”
Julie Johnson is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @juliejohnson.
[ad_2]
Source link