As La Jolla schools welcome students back to campus for a new academic year amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, local experts are passing along lessons for keeping children safer in both their physical and mental health.
With coronavirus cases surging from the highly contagious Delta variant, “one of the most important things that parents can do is make sure that their kids are comfortable wearing masks all day,” said Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego.
All schools are mandated by the state to require staff and students to wear masks indoors, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status. Fielding-Miller said it’s important to ensure that children “have a mask that fits them well that they like, because the best mask is one that stays on your face.”
Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at UC San Diego, says students and parents should “be kind” as the school year opens. “It’s kind to wear a mask, it’s kind to get vaccinated,” she says.
(Courtesy of Rebecca Fielding-Miller)
She advised parents to stock kids’ backpacks with “an extra one or two” in case the first becomes damp or soiled.
“We know that masks are pretty effective, especially if everybody is wearing one,” she said.
As to whether children should be asked to wear masks outdoors (currently, most La Jolla schools are not requiring that), Fielding-Miller said: “Personally, I would prefer that my kid keep her mask on, especially if she’s in like a larger setting with a lot of kids.
“We know that outside is much safer than inside because it’s the open air. It is less dangerous. But why take a chance?”
“It’s really scary that kids [younger than 12] can’t get vaccinated,” Fielding-Miller said. “A lot of data is coming out that when kids, especially smaller kids, get sick, they’re actually very likely to pass it on to somebody in their household.
“One of the best things we can do to protect our kids is make sure that we’re vaccinated. The more [vaccinated] people who surround somebody who can’t get vaccinated, the safer that person is.”
Since schools have done away with temperature and other health screenings implemented last academic year, Fielding-Miller said it’s important to keep children with symptoms such as a fever, cough, stomach trouble or headache home from school.
“It’s a bummer for everybody, but I think it is good to be sort of extra cautious with Delta going around,” she said.
Fielding-Miller, who also runs an environmental COVID-19 monitoring project at schools in high-risk communities, said her most important advice is to “be kind. It’s kind to wear a mask, it’s kind to get vaccinated.”
Katherine Nguyen Williams, a UC San Diego psychiatry professor, says putting feelings into words can help reduce anxiety.
(Courtesy of Katherine Nguyen Williams)
Katherine Nguyen Williams, a professor of psychiatry in the UCSD School of Medicine, said that in preparing to send their children back to school, parents should familiarize themselves with the latest school guidelines on masks and physical distancing and communicate those expectations to their kids.
“When kids are prepared and they know what they’re walking into, they’re less anxious when things happen,” Williams said. “Things are more predictable for them.”
She encourages parents to have their children get used to wearing masks for many hours a day, since many will not have done so over the summer or at all if they opted for online-only instruction last school year.
Williams said parents should watch for “the red flags of anxiety” in children — “avoiding what ... they’re fearful of.”
She said students may “have a challenging time putting their feelings into language,” so they may instead avoid school or anxiety-inducing situations such as lunchtime or a specific class. The anxiety may be exhibited in “somatic sensations” such as a headache or stomachache, she said.
“If you give in to that,” Williams said, “it actually increases anxiety.” She said parents need to talk to their children about “what’s happening during that time period that [they’re] avoiding so that we can address what it is that’s anxiety-provoking ... to help [them] feel better.”
Williams, a mother of four children at public schools in La Jolla, suggests regular conversations with kids to help them “put their feelings into words,” which will decrease anxiety.
“You can model that for them,” she said. “You can say as a parent, ‘I know I’m feeling a little bit nervous about school opening back up and you’re going to be gone all day at school and one of the things that I can do to help myself feel better is take some deep breaths. ... I talked to your teacher and she’s really excited to see you.’
“You’re modeling, ‘Yes, I get anxious, too, and this is what I do to help manage my anxiety.’”
“The challenging thing with this pandemic is that different families have responded differently. Everybody has their own values and perspectives,” Williams said. Peer pressure and teasing can occur because of such differences, she said, and kids “don’t know why it’s different. That’s where you can increase or improve empathy for others.”
She said coming up with answers to questions in advance will help alleviate embarrassment and fear in the moment.
She recommends practicing saying something like “’I know that we don’t have to wear a mask out here, and that’s OK with me that you’re not, [but] I am because my grandmother lives with us and she’s elderly or sick or she can’t get vaccinated.’”
Williams also encourages parents to reach out to others in the same school community “to empathize and get answers together.”
“Humans are social creatures,” she said. “So having somebody else to reflect back your own thoughts and your own feelings and having that shared experience can help you manage your own anxiety.” ◆
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