Gov. Gavin Newsom has set his sights on returning all school-age children back to in-person learning by the fall, and as the current school year winds down, some parents are left wondering if on-campus instruction will be safe.
Dr. Lucy McBride is a practicing internist in Washington, D.C. and penned an opinion piece in the New York Times this week with Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg, Allison Krug and Dr. Monica Gandhi about the importance of getting children back to so-called "normal life."
On Friday’s "Ask an Expert," she credited the "wonders" of modern medicine and “power of vaccines” for the country being in a different state than it was a year ago, especially with approximately 50% of Americans fully vaccinated.
"We are watching in real time, case rates, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 plummet," Dr. McBride told KCBS Radio.
She said that kids, even the ones who are unvaccinated, are generally safe from the worst consequences from COVID-19, and in the NY Times piece, argued that they should absolutely not be masked outside "unless they want to be," adding that in the fall, we should expect to allow kids to live "unrestricted."
"The risk of a child being hospitalized from COVID-19, unvaccinated, is somewhere between .1 and 1.9%," she said, adding that kids have added protection by being surrounded by more and more vaccinated people who do not transmit the virus.
Dr. McBride emphasized that the "safety and well-being" of children not only includes the risk of COVID-19 infection and transmission, but the social and emotional toll from being restricted from their normal lives, as well.
"Most kids are suffering invisibly," she said. "It’s harder to quantify the mental health toll, than it is to count distant between two desks or PCR test results."
But she wants people to know that the article she helped to pen is not anti-mask.
"Masks are an important way to mitigate risk," she said. "The way to get through the pandemic is through widespread vaccination. It’s about putting risk in context."
With mask restrictions getting lifted state-by-state, Dr. McBride said that vaccination is going to be key, calling this an "all-hands-on-deck moment," especially when there are people who may not be able to get vaccinated or whose immune systems will not mount a robust response to the vaccine.
"I have a patient who is on an immune suppressant medication for rheumatoid arthritis, and I checked her antibody level and its was zero after vaccination," she said. "She is someone who is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and as a result of her immune system—which is operating at full capacity—she could potentially transmit the virus to unvaccinated people."
As far as Memorial Day outside celebrations and barbecues go, Dr. McBride offers comforting words for those who want to get together with their loved ones to kick off the summer.
"You’re more likely to get burnt on the barbecue grill than you are to get COVID-19 outside," she said.
Related
