And that has many parents wondering what's safe as the most contagious variant yet sweeps the country.
In New York City, public school students who test positive will get a week's worth of at-home tests so they can know when it's safer to return to school. "You have got a screaming level of transmission in the Northeast, in New York City and Washington, DC. Trying to open schools at this point, it's hard to imagine how things will go well."
"There are so many advantages to on-site learning. Children need the socialization that comes with being in school," said Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. "So I do think that requiring a negative test before going back to the classroom is a prudent approach here."
While Omicron is more contagious than any previous variant, children who are vaccinated have a major advantage. And almost all children currently hospitalized for Covid-19 are not vaccinated, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said. And long-term Covid-19 complications can be significant for children -- even for some who initially had mild or no symptoms, the American Academy of Pediatrics said.Every pediatrician interviewed for this article said yes.
While some vaccinated children might be disappointed to hear they should still wear a mask in school,"simple explanations work quite well with them," Campbell said. Reducing infections is critical to help prevent new variants that could prolong this pandemic even further.