(CNN) As more kids are heading back to school, each parent, and district, is trying to figure out the best way to keep children safe.
The debate over the issue has led to many contentious school board meetings. But with the Delta variant wreaking havoc across most of the country, positive COVID case numbers in schools are climbing and many students are being sent back home for virtual learning. This, as hospitalization rates for young people with COVID are at their highest since the beginning of the pandemic.
Health experts say that masks are the most effective way to protect against infection for children under 12 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “Even in a school system, where you may have vaccinated teachers and some of the children may be vaccinated, you want to wear a mask to protect the children, so that they could continue to be in school.”
But some governors, like Florida’s Ron Desantis say parents, not schools, should decide whether their kids wear a mask in the classroom.
Desantis threatened to withhold the salaries of school officials who impose mask mandates and the Republican says quarantining “healthy kids” after possible COVID exposure in schools should be up to parents, too.
Desantis said, “Parents, whose kids very well may already be immune who may have a passing contact, I think if they’re healthy I would think they should want to get them back, if they want to get them back as soon as possible, I think the school district should work on that.”
But health experts say the risk is far too great. Professor of Medicine & Surgery at George Washington University Dr. Jonathan Reiner said, “The risk is not just to that child. It’s to the rest of the group.
Thousands of students and employees have tested positive for COVID-19 across Florida’s largest school districts since the start of the semester.
The FDA is expected to move quickly to thoroughly review vaccines for children under 12-years-old, when they have the data that they need, according to U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.
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