Pediatrician expects kids to have at least 1 cold a month this season

BETHEL PARK, Pa. (KDKA) - From barking coughs to spiking fevers and colds that just won't quit, it's a neverending march to the nurse's office in school districts across our area.

"There were times when half of the classrooms were out sick with some sort of a virus," said Bethel Park nurse Eileen Wallace, who oversees four elementary schools. 

She's seen it all. But never this.

"Not to this degree where we were missing half the classrooms. It was at the numbers that COVID was at really and staff – a lot of staff were missing days as well," she said. 

That's why Bethel Park School District sent a letter home to parents listing out "stay home" symptoms: fever, vomitting, chills, barking cough.

"It's very confusing for parents," said Dr. Joe Aracri, Allegheny Health Network's system chair of pediatrics. "So when in doubt -- again, fever for more than three days, cough is getting worse after a week, those are reasons to come to the pediatrician. And of course, horrible sore throat, ear pain, chest pain, those are all reasons to go see the doctor. But if it's just your regular mild cold, fever that lasts for a couple of days, they seem to be improving, then they can go back to school."

Aracri wants parents to know we're in this for the long haul.

"We're expecting for your kid to have at least one cold a month on average," he said. "That can involve a fever, that can involve a cough. Each cold lasts about two weeks. So we're expecting this year, for a kid not to have a running nose is abnormal."

When asked if kids are expected to be sick about half the time, he said, "pretty much." 

"Because the kids have been in masks and socially distant, and all that stuff that we do with COVID, the kids' bodies lost the ability to remember how to handle viruses," he said

How can parents and little ones fight back? Aracri says just keep getting sick. 

"So, because we've lost that immunity memory, the kids have to get sick again. They're going to get sick again over and over again until their bodies get used to being in contact with these viruses and know how to handle them."

School leaders at Bethel Park said they're cleaning in overdrive right now, sanitizing all the classrooms and giving extra cleanings to those rooms with half the class out sick.