COVID-19 will change yet another school year. Here’s a parent’s guide for staying safe

Just as school is right around the corner for many, COVID-19 cases have been increasing, largely because of the delta variant among unvaccinated people.

As a result, parents planning for a new school year face the same type of questions they did at the beginning of the last school year.

Do my kids need to wear masks? Should my children get vaccinated? Should I worry about the delta variant? Can kids spread COVID-19?

First, it’s important to take stock of where we are in the COVID-19 pandemic. Coronavirus cases have been trending upward in the Palmetto State for the last five weeks. As a result, hospitals, such as Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia, S.C., have been at or nearing capacity, The State reported previously.

One of the most dangerous misconceptions has been that children cannot spread COVID-19, said Allison Eckard, who is the director of the Medical University of South Carolina’s Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

“There is a misconception among many people that children can’t get COVID or they can’t spread it to others, and neither of those myths are true,” Eckard said. “We’ve had more than four million children in the U.S. who have tested positive for COVID.”

The number of actual cases is probably higher, she said.

Studies that looked at coronavirus outbreaks at summer camps showed that children passed COVID-19 on to their parents and other adults, Eckard said.

Virtual classes, which were either a viable option or mandatory for K-12 students last school year, are less accessible this year, as many schools are trying to return children to the classroom. In both Richland 1 and Richland 2, the deadline to register for online-only classes passed months ago, before cases spiked again. Lexington 1 is considering expanding virtual classes, but it is unclear yet whether the district will.

Healthy children typically do have less severe cases than adults, Eckard said. However, children with certain health conditions such as diabetes, obesity or asthma are at higher risk for complications.

It’s possible for COVID-19 to lead to a condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, often abbreviated MIS-C, in which several internal organs become inflamed. It can be deadly.

“It happens nearly exclusively in healthy children,” Eckard said of MIS-C. Statewide, at least 120 cases of MIS-C have been reported, she said.

That the virus can have severe complications in both healthy and compromised children makes it difficult to predict which children could suffer long-term injuries because of COVID-19, Eckard said.

“I think that it’s important to have a healthy respect for this virus and protect all children,” Eckard said.

Masks

The long-simmering political fight over whether to require masks at school hit a boiling point recently as the governor, state attorney general, state Senate majority leader and the S.C. Supreme Court got involved in a dispute over whether a proviso — a one-year law attached to the state budget — prevents schools from requiring masks inside campus buildings at the University of South Carolina.

But for S.C. K-12 schools, the issue is less contentious. The state Department of Education has said schools are not allowed to require masks in the classroom, The State reported previously. Because of this, some pediatricians have worried schools are at an increased risk for COVID-19 outbreaks once classes resume.

Last week, the City of Columbia declared a state of emergency and required all students in elementary and middle schools and day cares to wear masks to schools. However, other local or large S.C. cities are unlikely to follow suit, The State reported previously.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone indoors wear masks, whether they’re vaccinated or not.

When COVID-19 first emerged in the United States in early 2020, many placed a premium on N95 masks, which are designed to filter out small particles. But N95s are not the right masks for children, Eckard said.

That’s because carbon dioxide builds up in an N95 mask if it’s worn long enough, which can cause side effects, Eckard said. Cloth masks, in contrast, do not compromise breathing and are effective in blocking respiratory droplets, Eckard said.

“When I look at well-done research studies there is no evidence that cloth face coverings or surgical masks are dangerous to children, yet they are highly effective in preventing the spread of the large respiratory droplets which contain the virus,” Eckard said.

Variants

Experts currently believe existing vaccines minimize the threat of serious illness from most COVID-19 variants. However, it’s still possible a vaccinated person could contract the coronavirus or one of its variants, according to the CDC.

Preliminary information shows vaccinated people who have the delta variant may be contagious, according to Reuters. The lambda variant, of which there are roughly 1,000 cases in the United States, may be resistant to vaccines, according to research that has yet to undergo peer-review from the University of Tokyo.

“To give people comparison to the original strain, you take that as your baseline. The UK or alpha strain is about 50% more infectious than the original strain and the delta variant is about 40% more infectious than the alpha strain,” Eckard said.

Since the delta variant is still new, it’s unclear what effects it will have on children or whether they will be affected differently than adults, Eckard said .

While the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic is changing, Eckard said anyone who is eligible should get a vaccine.

“The biggest way to protect the families is to vaccinate as many people who are eligible as possible,” Eckard said.

This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.