SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – School is starting again which means it's time to think about COVID-19 in the classroom.
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Dr. George Rutherford, Director of Prevention and Public Health Group at UCSF, told KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert" when preparing for the school year, above all, he advises parents to vaccinate their children.
"From a COVID standpoint I would certainly encourage parents, if their children haven't been vaccinated yet, to have them vaccinated," Rutherford said. "In 2020, COVID-19 was the seventh leading cause of death in school-age children in the United States, so it's nothing to mess around with and it’s vaccine preventable."
However, as classes are set to begin in late August and early September across the country, only a third of elementary school children have received the vaccine. "If enough children are vaccinated, we would have some level of protection," the UCSF health expert urged.
When compared to other potentially fatal transmissible illnesses, the United States has strict protocol in the classroom, requiring school children to receive a series of immunizations. "We certainly don't tolerate large outbreaks of measles in the classrooms because we have a very effective vaccine and strict rules about vaccination," he said. "COVID isn't at that point in time yet."
As far as having children wear masks in classrooms, Rutherford said it largely depends on the situation, as mask mandates may be a phantom of the past.
"I think it depends on what's going on in the community and how much transmission there is," he explained. "While there are no mandates to have masks, there's no mandates not to have masks either. In general, it's certainly allowed if people have concerns or if kids have concerns."
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