By remembering the basics and modeling good behavior, adults can help kids at school remember to wash their hands, use sanitizer, practice social distancing, and wear face coverings.
“We can’t just let them walk into school like it’s October 2019,” Jones said. “Nothing is going to be 100% risk free. But the goal here is to lower the risk as much as we can and prevent the spread.”
For starters, the usual back-to-school supplies will include new additions for fall 2020. Experts are advising face masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes go into backpacks along with pencils and paper.
And students will be enlarging their vocabularies because of the pandemic, too. If they don’t know “pods,” “hybrid” and “symptoms,” they will soon.
Before School
The CDC and other experts advise that before school starts for the year and before school every day:
- Talk with your kids about the virus, hygiene (like washing their hands), and wearing masks. Listen to their concerns.
- Practice mask wearing with little ones, praising their behavior to encourage it while at school.
- Check for high temps and other signs of illness each morning.
- Load backpacks with hand sanitizer and other cleaning products -- as well as water bottles, so kids don’t need to use fountains.
- Consider how they’re getting to school. Some districts are limiting bus capacity to one child per seat, halving the number of students who attend each day, and requiring masks on buses.
During School
The CDC and other experts advise that before school starts for the year and before school every day:
- Talk with your kids about the virus, hygiene (like washing their hands), and wearing masks. Listen to their concerns.
- Practice mask wearing with little ones, praising their behavior to encourage it while at school.
- Check for high temps and other signs of illness each morning.
- Load backpacks with hand sanitizer and other cleaning products -- as well as water bottles, so kids don’t need to use fountains.
- Consider how they’re getting to school. Some districts are limiting bus capacity to one child per seat, halving the number of students who attend each day, and requiring masks on buses.
After School
At the end of each day, consider a household protocol for when the kids come home:
- You might want them to remove their shoes and clothes before coming inside.
- Have them wash their hands immediately.
- Wash the face masks they’ve worn.
- Talk with your child about how school is going, interactions, and their feelings.
Where schools aren’t open yet, Sexton urges everyone to do what they can to lower community transmission rates as much as possible: wear masks, stay home except when necessary, socially distance, etc.
“One of the best ways to get kids back to school is doing things that are going to protect all of us, no matter what,” Sexton said. “If you make the communities safer, the schools are going to be safer.”
SOURCE:
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on August 06, 2020, www.webmd.com, https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200806/can-you-protect-kids-from-covid-19-at-school.
Article: Can You Protect Kids from COVID-19 at School?
Taylor Heald-Sargent, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Candice Jones, MD, pediatrician, Orlando, FL.
Marybeth Sexton, MD, assistant professor, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
CDC.
CNN.
Northwestern University.
NBC’s “Today” show.
Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics: “Age-Related Differences in Nasopharyngeal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Levels in Patients With Mild to Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Images of Student Crowds Raise Questions in Georgia Schools.”
Video: Coronavirus in Context: Should You Send Your Children Back to School?
John Whyte, MD, MPH. Chief Medical Officer, WebMD, Nathaniel Beers, MD, Pediatrician, Children's National Hospital