00:00With children, especially the children that are not vaccinated under five, we do the same thing that we've done with any other infectious illness.
00:07We try to cocoon them or have the people around them be protected as best they can.
00:13So as pediatricians, we are recommending that all family members and siblings who are eligible to be vaccinated get vaccinated.
00:19I always say I'm a pediatrician. We're in the vaccine business. We know vaccines work.
00:24And so we encourage that. We encourage people to do the same thing.
00:28The other physicians on the phone on the line have said, wear your mask.
00:32You know, don't go out in crowded areas. Don't put yourself in a risky situation, especially if you do have young children.
00:38So really the way to protect them is to cocoon them and do all the things that we've been saying on this.
00:45One way people are trying to be careful is in schools.
00:48Some people are having their having the students go back to remote learning while they try to figure out things on the crime right now.
00:54And that's caused a great debate. Some people want their kids in school.
00:58Some people, you know, they're like, no, I want to protect them and have them home.
01:02And so what is the safest way for kids to be able to return and stay in in-person learning during this ongoing pandemic?
01:08Because obviously we know that there's so many great benefits, obviously, to them being in school with their teachers and their, you know, their classmates.
01:16Yeah, that is that is a really tough one.
01:19It's a really tough question, because, as you know, we have kids in school who are not immunized.
01:25And we also have kids in school who are not fully immunized.
01:29And then we have our older kids who are just now coming into play where they can get their booster.
01:34It's been at least five months and so they can get their booster shot.
01:37So we still have a vulnerable population in the school districts.
01:40And then you have the teachers who are there various ages.
01:43Some have underlying medical conditions, and I know they fear for their own health and safety.
01:48I think we do the best we can.
01:50But, you know, as it surges, I was looking at the data from the AAP, the American Academy of Pediatrics.
01:56And, you know, ending last week, there were 17 percent of the new cases of COVID were in kids and kids under 18.
02:04And they only make up 22 percent of the population.
02:06So we're really seeing this surge in children.
02:09So I know some local school districts have chosen to kind of go to remote learning a little bit or hybrid learning for a while to kind of let this run its course and then try to get kids back safely in school.
02:20But we all know for the kids, you know, social emotional development, for the parents to get back to work and for us to get we really want our kids in school.
02:29But it is difficult during this current surge to make them, you know, the unvaccinated community and the under vaccinated community go to school safely.
02:39But, you know, again, vaccinate, wear your mask, you know, socially distance, you know, all of those things are helpful.
02:48But it is a really tough situation right now with dealing with schools.
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