Texas kids can go to camp, school and play sports. But is it safe as COVID cases rise?
Will your kids be safe?
That’s what many parents are wondering as they weigh the risks of sending their children to camp or school this summer as coronavirus cases continue to rise.
The answer to that question from some medical professionals: They don’t know.
“You’re stuck with very difficult choices,” said Dr. Priya Bui, a pediatrician and associate professor at the UNT Health Science Center. “If it was going to be over in a month or two, that’s one thing. But this is a marathon, not a sprint.
“Coronavirus is still out there. You know there are still new cases every day. But we still don’t know enough ... about how it’s going to affect children, not only when they originally have the infection, but about things that present later on. Are there long-term effects? We just don’t know.”
So parents need to talk through any decisions to be made, find out what precautions will be taken and then decide what they will let their children do this summer, Bui suggested.
Several doctors say they are nervous about the thought of so many kids interacting with others while coronavirus cases continue to grow. But they understand that some youths are tired and frustrated, maybe even depressed, from staying home and away from others for the past couple of months.
And they know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most of those who have been ill with COVID-19 have been adults.
Children may be at a much lower risk of coming down with coronavirus, but they clearly aren’t immune because there have been cases of children with the novel virus.
“Children so far seem to have been spared from the outbreak,” Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said. “But what I would like to think, because all the schools were closed, (that’s why) they were spared.”
The concern now by some medical officials is what happens when they get together over the summer for school, camp, sports, even strengthening and conditioning for older youths.
“If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk,” the CDC stated on its website. “Children with COVID-19 may only have mild symptoms, but they can still pass this virus onto others who may be at higher risk, including older adults and people who have serious underlying medical conditions.”
Opening up
Gov. Greg Abbott, as part of his effort to reopen Texas, announced May 18 that bars, tattoo studios and massage parlors were among the businesses that could reopen at limited capacity. Child care centers already have reopened.
By the end of the month, youth sports and summer camps can resume. And schools may offer in-person summer school as soon as June 1, but attendance cannot be mandatory.
“Just because we are opening up, that doesn’t mean the virus isn’t still out there,” said Dr. Diane Arnaout, a pediatrician with Cook Children’s at the Forest Park office. “Now is such an important time to educate and remind folks it’s still important to not take unnecessary risks, to wear masks as much as we can, to not immerse ourselves into large social groups.
“It seems it is continuing to spread,” she said. “Hopefully we flattened the curve a little bit. But only time will tell.”
Dr. Terence McCarthy, chief of emergency medicine at Texas Health Harris Fort Worth, said he has mixed emotions about camps, schools and youth sports ramping up.
“If it’s going to be safe, they really have to have strict social distancing guidelines and requirements in place,” he said.
The first thing parents should consider when deciding whether their children should participate is whether their children have underlying health conditions such as asthma or diabetes.
If they do, then it might not be time yet for them to participate in summer activities, doctors say.
Then consider how risky it is and whether there can be social distancing and good hygiene in the activities.
Parents also need to consider the health of others in the household, and whether anyone has underlying health conditions — from high blood pressure to diabetes to heart disease.
“You should think twice if you have people who are older or who have those illnesses in your home,” McCarthy said. “If you do make the decision to send them, you need to be careful about social distancing in the home and keep the possibly exposed child in a different part of the house.”
Summer school
As for in-person summer school, the Texas State Teachers Association said June 1 is too early to reopen school buildings for summer classes.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rage across Texas, the health and safety of students, educators and our communities need to remain our first priority,” president Noel Candelaria said in a statement. “By rushing to allow school buildings to reopen on June 1 ... Gov. Abbott is creating an illusion that the worst of this health crisis is behind us.
“It is not. People are still getting sick and dying in large numbers, and reopening school buildings too soon will increase the peril.”
Districts that will hold summer school have to follow state guidelines that include desks being at least six feet apart, dividers should be placed on desks if possible and students and staff can’t meet in groups larger than 11.
Fort Worth and Arlington are among the districts that will not have in-person classes this summer.
Risks vs benefits
As parents decide whether to let their children participate in summer activities, more information is becoming available about cases of children with symptoms similar to those found in the Kawasaki disease. They are becoming ill with what is believed to be a post-COVID-19 syndrome that causes inflammation of the arteries and, in some cases, can lead to organ failure.
At least four children have been treated for this in the past two weeks at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
Now, as summer plans are being made, doctors say it would be one thing if people had enough time to build up an immunity to COVID-19.
And it would be another thing if there was a trusted vaccine.
McCarthy said a vaccine could come, in the best-case scenario, in seven or eight months. And “even that may be too optimistic,” he said.
“It really is a different world we live in,” he said. “Right now, the best treatment is prevention.”
Arnaout said she is asked 15 to 20 times a day by parents if they should send their children to camp, school, daycare or summer sports.
“I tell them every circumstance with every family is so different,” she said. “There’s so much we don’t know. I can’t say across the board no camps. What about that child on the brink of depression? Or the one who isn’t getting enough exercise? ... We need to be as smart as we can about it.”
“I’m a doctor and I usually have answers,” she said, adding that some of her answers aren’t as clear as they have been in the past because of the newness of COVID-19. “That’s frustrating for me.”
She’s not alone.
Bui said when she gives medical advice, she likes to have medical data to back it up.
But she doesn’t have much of that right now when it comes to coronavirus.
“If we did, we could give it to parents and say these are their recommendations,” she said. “So the main thing is to try to have a logical discussion and weigh the risks and benefits.
“This is going to go on for some time and it involves children and loved ones. You need to make decisions that are the best for them and your community.”
