'I Just Want To Protect The Children:' As The School Year Approaches, Experts Recommend Masks As Delta Variant Surges
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The news this week about the Delta Variant of the coronavirus and children has been disconcerting to families, to say the least.
Children are coming down with the virus in big numbers and some to the point of being hospitalized.
The CEO of the Ellison Institute of Transformative Medicine and a CBS Medical Expert Dr. David Agus calls the surge in kids getting sick, dramatic.
"When I say dramatic it is very very significant the numbers," Dr. Agus says. "The good is most of them are not very ill and most of them are not hospitalized, although, when I say 'most', some of them are."
Dr. Agus says Delta is rewriting how COVID impacts kids.
"I mean this virus is more aggressive, there are higher numbers of virus particles in the individuals which makes the kid a little bit sicker," Dr. Agus explains. "In children, the initial infection is all in the upper respiratory tract, the nose, and so you're gonna get a stuffy nose, you're going to get a fever, etc. In some of them, it will go to the lower respiratory tract and that's when we are worried."
In fact, he says when it settles into the lungs of children, that is when hospitalization is needed.
Shumway: "So when you're watching out for symptoms in your kids, watch out for runny nose?
Dr. Agus: "Yeah, I mean, watch out for the equivalent of a cold, No question about it and have them COVID tested."
The testing he says is critical for diagnosis and early treatment and protection of everyone else.
"They bring it home to their family to their neighbors to their grandma, and so that enables spread throughout the community we have to stop it," he says.
While the biggest outbreaks among children are in areas of the country that have been resistant to widespread vaccinations, he adds in our area we should not be complacent.
"Vaccinations are generally good in the Pittsburgh area with the exception being that 12 to 16 number, not very good in that group," Dr. Agus says. "Obviously, the under 12, so you have a large cohort of Pittsburgh, 20% of the population right there, that cannot or is not being vaccinated at the present time."
WATCH: Interview With Dr. David Agus
He says add those adults who are unvaccinated and you've got almost 50% of the population.
On the issue of the children going back to school, Dr. Agus says it's critical for their mental and emotional health and he's concerned schools are making masking decisions for the wrong reasons.
"A lot of schools, listening to policymakers [and] politicians, not necessarily listen to what the pediatricians are saying," he explains. "What we do know is that every child over the age of 12 needs to be vaccinated - period. Every teacher and educator needs to be vaccinated, and children under the age of 12 and classrooms where there are unvaccinated children need to wear masks, and there needs to be a testing program in every school, and together, you can have a safe school experience even with Delta."
Shumway: "What does mom or dad do if their school district comes out and says, we're leaving it up to you.
Dr. Agus: "The American Academy of Pediatrics who I trust, who are doctors who really their only goal is to make children healthy have recommended that at the present time in the United States with our infection rate across the country. Children should start to wear masks in school, and that's what I would listen to."
When it comes to all the chatter on social media, "Human lives are unfortunately being affected over and over again, because of this misinformation social media, I don't know how to stop that. First of all, there is no negative ramification of wearing a mask, those are all internet rumors, and you know when a kid chooses a comfortable mask what do you know, They wear it."
Dr. Agus leaves us with an optimistic note he believes this wave will be coming to an end.
"The mask isn't going to be forever," says Dr. Agus, "Delta numbers are going to come down probably by mid-September, and at that point, we can reevaluate. But for the near term, we just want to protect the children."
