Covid Impact on Children, Schools

Two weeks st.

Joseph school district families must decide whether to spend spring semester online or in the classroom.

Good evening, i'm alan van zandt.

And it's not here-- families everywhere have similar deadlines quickly approaching.

To help you decide-- kq2's madeline mcclain found out what is the latest on the impact of covid-19 in children.

<<the c-d-c and american academy of pediatrics say there's been a sharp uptick in positive coronavirus case in children.

The group now account for roughly 11 percent of all u.s. confirmed cases.fortunately, most children have had mild symptoms.dr. brownfield, pediatrician mosaic life care: "one of the hardest things as my job is seeing what this is doing to our youth.

We have little step back and understand that age of 18 do well.

Their risk of hospitalization is so death is incredibly lowdr. cynthia brownfield with mosaic -- as well as other doctors and nurses working in children's medicine -- say families deciding on whether to send children back into schools or opt for online learning should consider what's best for the child physically, mentally and academically.dr. brownfield, pediatrician mosaic life care: "i've seen so many kids with such severe anxiety and depression over the last six months.

I've seen more suicide attempts in my pediatric population that i serve than i've ever seen.

I've probably prescribed more zoloft in the last six-to-eight months than i have, in children, than i have in probably the last ten-fifteen years so the mental health toll on children is."public health experts say mental health is a historically underfunded area and that coupled with the insidious nature of depression and anxiety will make it difficult to know the true toll of the pandemic anytime soon.but dr. brownfield isn't the only one that has already seen evidence of the impact.

Nurse practitioner sarah sass with peacock pediatrics says they've seen it too.sarah sass, peacock pediatrics nurse practitioner: with kids being isolated and quarantined and their routines, all of that being disrupted has really taken a toll on everyone's mental health and we are definitely seeing the repercussions of that with kids coming into the clinic and so we would absolutely, if a parent is concerned or a kid concerns that they are dealing with anxiety or depression, we would want them to provider as soon as possible."another part of the equation is academics.

If your child is struggling to learn in whatever mode was picked in the fall -- it may be time to switch it up this spring.

Sarah sass, peacock pediatrics nurse practitioner: "we are kind of encouraging parents if they have a low-risk household to get them back in school because we are also seeing a large number of virtual kids are not passing and so it's affecting them academically.for parents worried that the dizzying schedule of closing and opening schools for quarantine and positive cases was too disruptive this semester -- brownfield says the new state guidelines should help.dr. brownfield, pediatrician mosaic life care: hopefully for every positive case of coronavirus you won't see 50- 100 children sent home anymore that as long as the child is wearing a mask and the children around them are all wearing masks, correctly, that there will be a symptom watch and not an automatic quarantine so that's going to keep more children in school compared to what they've been facing up until that new recommendation came about."and one more thing brownfield and sass say to consider -- this is a case dependent situation.

"it's on a case-by-case basis because having to weigh the risk verse benefit for their family and them to do so.

It's not a one size fits no two families will be the same.it's about what's your child.

Parents should talk to their children and ask them, what do they want?

So there is just many children that are upset that they just can't go to school.

It's a family decision it's a personal decision include the child as well."

Reporting madeline mcclain kq2 news.