Dr. Amesha Adalja stopped by the 'Wake Up With Cheddar' studio to give his expert tips on how kids (and parents) can stay healthy as they head back to school. Plus, the updated guidelines from the CDC on Covid-19. Watch!

Wake Up With Cheddar

Back-To-School Health Tips From Dr. Amesh Adalja

kids may be excited to get back to school. Many parents are concerned, they're also ready to get their kids back to school. They are concerned as the world continues to grapple of course with the covid, 19 pandemic monkeypox, although exactly so joining us now for some expert insight on how we can all stay safe and healthy. This new school year is Dr Amos Adalja doctor good to have you here in studio with us as kids get ready to go back to school. The CDC has now updated their guidelines when it comes to covid. So what do you make of these updated guidelines? And where do we sort of stand when it comes to the severity of covid? Right now? They're welcome change because what we've seen is there's been a lot of progress since the very beginning of this pandemic with tools such as vaccines, antivirals, monoclonal antibodies, rapid test. So we're in a different place than we were. And I think this guidance reflects the progress we've made and I think the priority has to be to keep schools in person to keep schools running so kids are getting educated and I think this guidance helps do that. And I think it's reflected in the science and I have no issues with it. I think it's welcome. And while the CDC does have some new guidelines, some things remain the same. The recommendation is still to isolate for five days if you're positive. Even if you're experiencing minor symptoms. Do you think we'll ever evolve past this five day isolation rule or is this just our new normal, we don't want people to spread covid if they know they have it? And I think the five day rule does does make sense. That may be something that we probably keep as the norm. Just like we do for influenza, we don't have a day rule for influenza. What we tell people you don't come to school until it's been 24 hours without a fever, which ends up being around five days for influenza. So what you're seeing is the guidance really reflect Covid being managed. Much like other respiratory illnesses are, let's talk about masks here. Because for the longest period of time when kids were in school, they had to wear masks during the pandemic this year. They're not being forced to do that. Do you think that's the correct decision here. You have to recall that most schools don't actually have mask mandates? Most schools weren't actually following the CDC guidance. So there were some schools that did, but many, many that didn't. And I think that when masks are a tool that you use. But that's a tool that I think we can really supplant by the fact that vaccines are now available to everybody above the age of six months. So I think we've got much more refined tools to keep severe disease down. And I think that masks are something that should be optional. Um, kids are notoriously jeremy and then also we're leaving our isolation bubble. Do you think we'll see a rise in covid numbers once kids are back in school and should people be concerned if we see a spike, it's likely that any time you see social interaction, covid cases are going to go up, there's always gonna be some baseline number of cases. There's gonna be ups and downs ebbs and flows with this with this virus. The goal though, is not to the goal is never to get covid down to zero. That's impossible. What we're trying to do is make this a manageable illness one that doesn't lead to hospitals in crisis. And I think that's the new era is that covid cases and variants are going to come and go, but our hospitals are going to be intact, severe disease is going to be pretty stable and that's a testament to what science and medicine have given us. The kids have been under so much pressure over the last couple of years. Some of them being remote. This might feel like this is the first sort of normal school year for a lot of them. Do you think this will be a sort of normal year? I do think so. And I think the CDC guidance puts us in a good position. The tools that we have, the fact that anybody that wants to be vaccinated can be vaccinated. All of that should make this the least disruptive school year from covid. Hopefully. Yeah. And by the way, Covid is not the only concern for a lot of parents right now, monkeypox also has been shown in pas of results in pediatric cases in states like maine and florida. Right now, reports are saying the risk still really relatively low right now for Children. Do you agree and how should parents make their kids safe in something like this? I do agree that we're not likely to see spread through the pediatric population. What we have with this monkey pox outbreak is a lot of clustering amongst men who have sex with men and there are some pediatric cases because there are household contacts and we have to expect those. But I don't think you're going to see spread throughout the population the way we did with Covid nine, it's just not that contagious. And I think while schools have to be proactive and have a plan in place, if they have an exposure or a case, it's not something that should be disruptive to schools. And finally doctor what are some tips that you can give parents all ages and college students to keep themselves safe going into this new school year. The number one thing is to be vaccinated against covid 19. That's the best tool that we have to keep covid from disrupting our lives. The same is true for monkeypox. If you're in one of those high risk categories and the vaccine becomes available to you and it's going to become increasingly more of a get vaccinated. The other thing is remember that masks for covid will work if you're in congregated places and you want extra protection or if you're high risk and use rapid tests for covid liberally. Especially when you're going into places where people want you to be tested or you're going to be around immuno compromised people. You're going you're in a situation where you might have been exposed. Great advice, infectious disease expert Dr a methodology for the expert insight and get us all ready for back to school and staying healthy this year. Doctor thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me.