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Pediatric infectious disease doctor explains how to help keep your child safe at mask-optional schools

WCNC Charlotte spoke to an expert about what parents should know going into the new school year.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Next week, hundreds of thousands of kids from the greater Charlotte area are headed back to school, many without masks -- among them, Avery and Ashe County Schools and all South Carolina Schools. Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools return Aug. 18. Masks are currently optional at these schools instead. 

RELATED: LIST: K-12 schools in Charlotte-area districts mask, vaccine and remote learning decisions

Some parents say they’re comfortable with mask-optional policies and believe parents should have the choice. Others feel concerned their child will be put at risk, as COVID-19 cases are on the rise.

“Nationally, in the last two weeks we have seen an 80% increase in the number of cases in children,” said Dr. Amina Ahmed, a pediatric infectious disease expert and epidemiologist at Atrium Health Levine Children's Hospital.

In Gaston County, the Health Department released data Wednesday saying more than 200 children have tested positive.

RELATED: 200 kids test positive for COVID-19 in Gaston County

“I cannot with good conscious put my children in that situation where they’re going to be at risk like that,” parent Karen DeChant Ross said.

Ross said she plans to keep her three children home for at least the first week, in hopes her children’s school district reverses course and makes masks mandatory, at the very least, for teachers and staff.

“They can still carry the variant and they can still give it to my kid, so if they’re not going to have masks on, I can’t put my kids in that obvious situation,” she said.

RELATED: 'Reconsider and make them mandatory': Cooper sends letter to schools pushing mask mandates

For others, who have no other choice but to send their children in, what are ways that will help protect them? WCNC Charlotte asked Dr. Ahmed.

One of the questions we’ve been hearing most from parents: is it still worthwhile to send your child to school in a mask, even though many of their classmates may not be wearing one?

Dr. Ahmed said yes. 

“It’s definitely protecting them from COVID, it’s also protecting them from other viruses and here’s the problem, this year if your child gets another virus and they get a fever, now you have got to get tested for COVID, now your family is in quarantine,” she said.

Where is your child most likely to become infected? Dr. Ahmed said in the cafeteria, where there’s zero masking up.

“So, if you can stress one thing to your child or to the school, it is to separate these kids out when they’re eating,” Dr. Ahmed said.

She said parents should also stress to their kids the importance of washing their hands -- especially before lunch.

“Just wash your hands before you eat, because when you eat is when you’re putting your hands in your mouth,” she said.

Once home from school, Dr. Ahmed said kids should immediately wash their hands again but said there’s no need to remove clothing or to wipe everything down.

“We all did this at the beginning of the pandemic, right, when I came home from work I like actually took everything off in the garage and was very worried about it, but now we know that fomites, meaning solid materials that you touch, are less likely to spread as long as you wash your hands,” Dr. Ahmed said.

Contact Ashley Daley at adaley@wcnc.com and follow her on FacebookInstagram and Twitter.

   

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